Ours
by Aiko Isari
Summary: (Digimon Adventure) AU Dark Masters Arc OCs and Canon "Something has gone wrong in that world in the sky and those kids... they feel duty-bound to fix it." A young man is pulled into a spiral of events beyond his control and over his head into a conflict Destiny couldn't even rewrite itself to fix. What happened to the Chosen Children? Updates on Fridays!
1. Hard Times

**_A/N:_ [08/14/13]** This story has now been _betaed_. Betaing is done by the lovely Edhla, who enjoys my _Digimon_ fiction and writes incredible _BBC_ _Sherlock_ fiction. I would read them, they are top notch. If there are people who want to beta for canon sanity, please drop a PM. Always accepting help.

This will have **Friday** updates.

Okay... that out of the way... welcome! This _is_, contrary to the appearance of the story, a fic of the canon with OCs in it. However, before you walk away, the canon shall definitely appear. This is a story about the _Chosen Children_ after all. However, gotta build up to them. Hehe. Until they appear, I hope you enjoy these characters and someone can guess who they could be before we get there. All but one is owned directly by me, and that one is Sayri and his family, who is originally from _Naomi Shihoin_, who challenged this general idea to me in the first place. Hope she enjoys, hope you all enjoy. If you read _Memorial Day_, please see that for how I will portray the canon. Enjoy!

Warning, this story contains violence, swearing, homosexuality (between OCs), innuendo, mentions of past drug abuse, and past references to prejudicial behaviors.

Any language translations will be at the end. Note: there are a lot of foreign people. XD

* * *

On August 3rd, 1999, eight children were meant to save the Digital World and Human World from distorting any further. However, when many people awoke on August 4th, the world did not change. Up in the sky, the stripes of mysterious continents and oceans that could not exist anywhere on earth continued to be visible. The monsters invading the planet thinned but continued to appear, leaving destruction in their wake.

Though the world wished to pick up after itself and continue living, it proved impossible. Death tolls continued to climb. The mysterious invaders wreaked further havoc. No heroes arose to fix it.

In the midst of this, the living try to bring their homes to something bearable. Unfortunately, the battles have only just begun.

_**Episode One: Hard Times**_

The dreams... they were always cold. They were cold and sharp, like claws. No, dreams do not have the chill of claws.

Dreams have the frost of knives.

No... Even that was not correct.

What was right or wrong these days?

Sitting up in bed, the little girl stared at the night sky, at the night sky that her mind was trying to persuade her had always been this way. Her heart protested this thought, speaking that the strange streaks, so vivid in the darkness, the stripes like a...like another _world_ were not right, that it had been different before. The creatures that came from that sky... they weren't supposed to fly or... exist... like that.

_How do you know?_ Her mind whispered, the traitorous thing.

_I just do_, she would say back. She'd argued this with herself many times before. _There have always been different things everywhere, but this is...this a bad difference._

_You aren't a good difference yourself._

This was what she would say to herself right back. As she thought it, she would trace her fingers through her hair and silently agree, each and every time.

She did so now, watching her thin arm trace sharp fingers up her head. Threading a lock of thin white through two of them brought her stomach to roll and she coughed. The urge to vomit was back, bubbling with the throb in her head. Every single time she touched this part of her head, the little girl would feel sick.

Because there were ears here, odd ears, ears that shouldn't be here.

And she couldn't grasp _why._

The little girl's stomach heaved at the simple question and she shifted, rolling from her futon to smack onto the floor. Or she was meant to, but her body swung herself down to touch the carpet without a sound. Placing her other hand over her mouth, she tottered as fast as her legs could carry her to the bathroom.

When finished, she slumped against the chill of the shower door, clutching at her head as if hoping it would do something. When her head did not stop aching, she left the bathroom, walking back to go wriggle under the covers.

"Another bad night, hmm?"

Under the fabric, her ears twitched and she rolled onto her side to peer into the doorway. The woman there merely smiled, clutching a steaming mug in her hands. The scent made the girl's eyes water and her headache seemed to calm a little. If the woman knew this, she paid no mind, instead sitting by the child's feet. Her brown eyes were young, yet the hands that slowly pulled the girl to sit up straight were far too old.

The kindness in these gestures was familiar... but the person was not.

"I woke you up, didn't I?"

The woman tapped her own head. "Insomnia, little one. You haven't managed to do so yet."

"...Oh..." Those words felt like a lie. She sipped at the tea, tasting warm milk and herbs. The combination should not have tasted so nice, but it was very sweet, like there was honey instead of milk. The liquid eased the panic growing in her throat and the thumps in her mind slowed. "... I still don't know," she finally said, the silence between them too big for her.

"It's all right not to know."

Though the woman's words were genuine and earnest... they felt hollow all the same. Her heart knew best... and not knowing what it knew was more frightening than it did know.

Even though the girl made no noise to disagree, the woman appeared to take notice of it anyway and chuckled, tapping the smaller hand. "You don't have to believe me."

"I would like to," the younger admitted.

The woman smiled, an expression that was just a pretty frown. "Sweet dreams, Kayla." She shut the door behind her and the girl nearly dropped the teacup in her tears.

"That's not my name," she whispered to the broken sky. "I'm not her daughter."

The sky didn't answer.

* * *

He punched the bag with a satisfying _thwap_, hearing the bag almost hit the wall of the exercise room. He punched again and swung with violent, fast-paced accuracy. "Gah." Stepping too far, the young man ended up hitting the ground, grimacing through black hair. "Damn..."

"Graceful as a deer," sang a voice behind him. "So much for the best of our family, huh Sayri-_ani_?"

Sayri stuck his middle finger up behind his back without looking and pulled himself back to his feet. "You try doing this for an hour solid, _Ru__-__ru._"

His younger brother shrugged, scratching at his shirt. "I'd do better than you, that's for sure." Then the other, brown hair sweeping back in front of his eyes, caught the rest of the sentence. "Damn it, stop calling me that!" He rose, hands instantly balling into fists.

"Put your money where your mouth is," the older replied with a shrug, straightening and spinning back to kick the side of his practice bag. "And I might."

Behind him, he heard a shuffling across the wood of the forest floor and thrust his elbow behind him. At the _oof _of breath, he grinned a little, stepping back on his right foot and throwing the other over his back. "I meant punch the bag for an hour, not fail at sneak attacking me, Teru." His sibling sighed from the ground, then, with a grin that was too fox-like to be anything but evil, grabbed Sayri's ankle and pulled, dragging him to the floor. Sayri swore. "Idiot! That was almost my head!"

"You almost got my spine!" Teru's retort was followed by a quick lunge, which Sayri half-expected, raising his knee to avoid it.

Instead of this, there was an unspectacular _thump _and his brother almost squeaked at there being sixty pounds of nine-year-old on his back. "Dakota, get the heck off!"

"Breakfast is ready," she reported, ignoring her slightly older brother's gasps for air. "And you two smell like gym class." Her dark nose wrinkled like a cat's and Sayri laughed.

"Got it. I'll go ahead. Help him pack up the dojo for everyone after school, okay?"

"You do it!" Teru snapped in a wheeze while Dakota just sat there, swinging her stick legs back and forth

Sayri winked. "But you lost, so you get the punishment." Dakota giggled as he slid the door shut behind him. Then he sighed and looked up at the sky, at the mountains and trees and the ocean that would not fall. It had been two weeks since then, two weeks since homes outside of his area had been demolished by... something. He never understood what."The mysterious world mirage..." He snorted. "If only it was a mirage. This summer's been a bust..."

At least there was still a sun.

* * *

"Andrea~ What are you doing?"

The young woman didn't answer immediately, hair tie in her mouth. Pulling purple and black hair out of her face, she spat out the hair tie. "Weekly store run," she finally replied, stretching the tiny elastic tie around her fingers. As she did, the speaker snatched it from her with a mischievous giggle. Andrea raised an eyebrow as her roommate rolled away from her on the top bunk, reaching out with her free hand. "Ivy," she murmured, the closest thing the young woman had to a whine. "Give it back."

Ivy pouted. "Teri's been in her room all day," the younger retorted. "Get her out and I'll give it back. She likes you the best."

"Are you fifteen or five," Andrea muttered fondly, climbing onto the ladder and yanking the tie from her friend's hand. "If I get her, she'll want to eat something, and she won't be able to eat something if the fridge is empty."

"Muuuuh."

Andrea smiled, a mild indulgence in the curl of her lips, and kissed Ivy on the forehead. "I'll make it a quick trip, all right? Xavier wanted to make zucchini bread."

Ivy's blue eyes sparkled against a tan face. "Really?"

"If you hide his cigarettes, I doubt he will have a choice," she pointed out, grabbing her hair again and tying it back, exposing her ruby-red eyes to stand out. In the end, it was look like a freak or look like a hobo. Freakishness was apparently normal in this country of Japan, so it was the lesser of two evils. She pushed her bangs back over her forehead and smoothed the creases of her skirt. Dropping to the floor, she pocketed a plastic box on top of her desk.

"Are you sure you're gonna need that for a trip to the store?" Ivy sounded amused, raising her head to nearly smack against the ceiling..

Andrea only shrugged. "Never know when a potential rapist requires a wonderful crotch shot."

Ivy cackled and collapsed on her back, giggling shamelessly. "Don't... don't let Erin hear you say that." Andrea snorted and headed to the door. "Andy..."

"What?"

The younger voice sounded as though it was from a mouse hole. "We'll... we'll be able to do this, right? We came all the way here... we can do this, can't we?"

Andrea looked at her, at the big sincerity welling up in those eyes, and shrugged. "I'm not a prophet," she said softly. "All I can do is daydream and hope... but... I think we'll be able to change the worlds... even a little bit. After all..." She smiled, a motion made only with pale, red lips. "He's back in your heart."

Ivy smiled, a little silly smile, and nodded, letting Andrea walk outside. "Be careful, Andy."

"Aren't I always?"

"To my chagrin."

* * *

"Dad, this is depressing. Can we turn it off, please?"

Sayri tried not to smile behind his hairbrush as his second brother gave their stick of a father the doe-eyed face he had taught their sister at the age of three. To continue to save his pride, Sayri licked at his fingers and pulled his hair back, tying it back up. He grimaced. Every time he did this, he felt like such a girl. Oh well, he had yet to become Dakota. Haru pleaded again, clearly trying to get the remote to change to the latest incarnation of _Kamen Rider. _Sayri glanced at his mother, silently asking for guidance. She paid it no mind, choosing to gently click her tongue at him instead.

"Son, it will not behave," she said, chucking at his hair's imitation of a blowfish. "Your hair is too much like you, stubborn like a dying tree."

He flushed, cheeks turning dusty red. "M-Mum..." Even if it was true...

"What, cub?" His ears turned red and his sister laughed. In response to this, his mother gently swatted at her with her wooden spoon.

He looked down, cheeks and face turning a darker shade of red. "That wasn't very nice..." he finally mumbled.

The woman chuckled. "It is a good lesson for you. People do not always have to be kind." Even though her voice was slow, warm like cocoa, it did not dull the stab of anger in his belly or lower the odd brightness of his hazel eyes.

"I know, Mum," he said quietly, gripping his almost forgotten hairbrush so hard his knuckles turned white.

His mother clucked her tongue. "You are such a sensitive thing, my cub." She mussed his hair, making it a bigger mess. "Someday, you will see the mistakes pride can make."

Sayri peeked an eye to look at her. "As you say, Mum," he recited, and she let him go, plopping food at his plate. He did not know how to argue with his mother, her or her great, strong spirit, who had been wise and beautiful before she had even met his father. All he was strong in... was his fists and his justice, which surely could not be enough for this world.

Meanwhile, his father was holding the remote far from his scrawnier brother's reach and Sayri could smile at this, could be content to let his mother bustle around and try to dissuade him from what he felt. It was the one teaching... forgiveness... it was the one teaching of hers he could not obey. He would look at the backs of his hands and recall the nearly broken chain of his exercise bag and remember.

Those who looked down on others... they could all just disappear.

To him, it was only fitting.

* * *

The world on the other side of the sky was so _diligent. _It kept right on moving, no matter what havoc was wreaked upon it. Such a shame it couldn't regulate itself. It left too many opportunities for food and fun this way.

There was destruction too, of course, always a little of that.

… Oh, what was that?

It was a scent, a very odd smell. No, not odd, attractive, familiar, fun to boast of. Yes, something to eat... but not to simply eat. Strong prey... but frightened.

They would feast... yes they would hunt... but to the victor... went the spoils of fear. The dragons smiled.

Glory to the one with the truest speed.

* * *

"Aw... damn it."

Sayri sighed, watching the pinball fall into the gutter. He was so bad at coordination games. "Teru would laugh at me, can't even rack one hundred thousand at pinball. Maybe I'd be better at Pachinko..." _Oh, that's a stereotype to encourage._

"Hey, move it. Some _pros_ wanna play."

Oh, it was _so_ not his day. _Shit..._

Sayri studiously ignored the nasally jeer and slipped another twenty yen coin into the slot. Licking his lips, he pulled back the spring and launched it, pressing at the flippers with distaste etched into his expression. "Don't see any pros here, Ginga. Not me, not you." He continued to play, merely planting his back foot a little more firmly onto the tiled floor as a hand roughly yanked on the back of his white shirt. "I can finish the game a lot faster if you stop being a prick." Ginga used both hands to try and drag him off and Sayri groaned. "Manager, this is harassment," he muttered and yelped, yanked to spin around. Due to his position, he almost hit his head on the machine. "What the hell?"

"Think you're a funny guy," Ginga said quietly. As always, the kid was alone. A weedy guy, contacts in, better for running than for fighting, Sayri saw "bully victim" and "kiss up" in the exact same part of the bastard's forehead. For all his fruitless efforts, he should have been worthy of pity.

Sayri only glared.

"Think you're the best, don't you?" the other continued. "All cause you can hit someone. All cause you're _different._"

"No," Sayri said quietly. "I just know I'm better than you. There's a difference."

Ginga laughed. "You're such a hypocrite." Sayri raised an eyebrow.

"Impressed you know what that means."

"I'm more impressed you don't see it," Ginga chuckled. He gestured to Sayri's clothes, the robe he had discarded to the side of the game table, the pendant sparkling in the low lights of the arcade. "Everything's gotta be different with you..."

"Appreciating your heritage doesn't have shit to do with it," he said, balling his hands into careful fists. He wouldn't mind punching his opponent once or twice.

The other rolled his eyes. "And I suppose you not appreciating mine doesn't too, right?"

"That's a rather baseless assumption."

Ginga rolled his eyes, confident in this, in riling Sayri up, as he was in nothing else. "Better figure this out, you _hypocrite_, before nobody wants to deal with you anymore. Oh wait," He laughed. "No one does."

His fists throbbed and Sayri prepared to swing it. _Liar, _he hissed in his mind.

"Hey, kid, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ginga snickered and darted away, leaving Sayri to hurriedly pick up his things and leave. The jangle of the bell chimed in his ear and he grimaced. _Guess that place is out._

He spat on the concrete floor as he walked. "I am not wrong," the teen whispered. "They hurt me. They hurt everyone who isn't right. They deserve to be punished."

_Why do people choose to hurt others?_

He didn't understand it at all.

Deciding to let the thoughts go, Sayri looked up at the sky and scowled. "Still freaking there." The news reported no change in the continents, and more destruction of buildings and urban areas. They kept claiming it was monsters, but... even if it was true, they certainly weren't in this area. It was quiet in this part of Tokyo... and a part of him wondered why. "It's so weird..." he muttered. It made his skin crawl.

"Well, you don't look very normal yourself. But you make us very hungry indeed. Does that make you feel any better?"

He grimaced. Of course not."

"Good." The words sounded a little smug. "It's good to know eating you is still horrifying."

Sayri whipped around. "Ginga, this isn't a good joke," he warned, raising his fists.

A raspy giggle was the first response to those words. "Perhaps not to you," the voice agreed, which now that he listened, sounded even less like the tweedy bastard than he thought. "But to us, this whole ordeal is rather amusing. A good game, if you will."

Slowly, Sayri looked up, having realized the voice was coming up from the top of a building. His face paled and he gaped. "A... A _dragon?"_ he squeaked. "A...an _armored_ dragon?"

The yellow creature raised metal wings as if to confirm it, the blade-like "feathers" glinting in the sunlight. "Oh good, it's caught on now," it said, looking delighted. "Bit slow, aren't you?"

"Slow or no," sighed another. "The smell... it's magnificent." It rose into the air. "Smell that fear smell!"

"Always a treat," agreed the first. Sayri tried to breathe, noting the way the two monsters were pointing themselves to crash into his small body. It wasn't working. Instead, his brain screamed at him to run, and run he did, bolting into the belly of his part of the city.

"Oh, he didn't need the rules at least," said the dragon with a chuckle, pushing off the ground.

Sayri missed these words entirely, only one thought burning through his mind. It was quite a simple thought:

He did not want to die.

* * *

Oh great.

At the sound of a scream, Andrea grimaced, clutching at the paper bags. _Why now?_

Because destiny liked to screw with her head, that's why.

A part of her really hoped it was just a robber, but somehow she doubted that she would get that lucky. She dropped her bags by her bicycle, turning to look at the possible chaos. Concrete flew in the air as two large creatures shrieked their delight to the sky as they flew. On a hunt, the scream said to her. On a hunt and the prey was good today!

Promptly, she bit her tongue. If she started cursing at the sight of two mere dragons, Erin would never let her hear the end of it.

Instead, Andrea dialed on her phone. "Ivy, can you come watch my bike?" A pause. "Yes, this is just the way I like my afternoons: sunny with a chance of some human corpses." She sighed. "Yes, it is that bad... It looks like Raptordramon." She looked at the trains of cracked street that were left behind. The concrete crumbled, the jagged trails becoming pieces of solid, abnormal cube. "Poor transfers," she mused quietly. "I have to go after them, Ivy, before we don't have a city anymore."

"You righteous idiot," Ivy said softly.

Andrea chuckled. "You love me for it."

"We all love you, Andy," the younger girl informed her seriously. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Good."

Conversation ended, she opened the box in her pocket. Pulling out the knife, Andrea smiled. "Let's dance."

* * *

Her whole body shuddered and the girl felt her hand slip off the bath faucet and smack the tub. She winced, and looked at the steaming water before her. Something in her screamed to get away from the water. However, she ignored it, as she ignored her brain's insistence that this was how the world was supposed to be. With timid fingers, she reached to her sweater and slipped it off. It never felt right to not have her arms covered, to even have her hands gloved. Uncovering her skin, her skin that was overlapped with many fading scars, ending with crosses on her hands. Touching them left an odd tingle in her fingers, one that made the room spin. So she undressed herself with her eyes closed to them.

_Kayla, don't force yourself._

The girl shook her head. No. She was not Kayla. She could not be. There was someone else, someone who was screaming her name. Her _real _name.

Whoever they were, whatever her name was, how could she find it out? Could she?

It was never a question of should or should not, like taking a simple bath was.

"I'm not going to drown," she said aloud to the empty room and the empty house. Then, she slipped one small foot in and then the other. The heat flooded her skin and it hurt, gooseflesh rising up her skin like a sudden influx of pimples. "There," the little girl murmured. "Not so bad, now is it? Just have to... make my way the rest of the way down..."

"Let it drown. It's dead anyway."

Her throat constricted and the pain rose, this time not in her head, but in her chest, her stomach. She caught a glimpse of her face in the rippling water. Skin too pale, short, white hair that ended lilac framing an expression of absolute horror, absolute fear, it made her stomach turn. That wasn't her face, not the face she was meant to have, not those feral eyes-

_You're panicking. Calm down._

She couldn't. She stared at them, those hollow eyes that reminded her of moonless nights and the darkest depths of the sea-

Water splashed the ground as she broke her reflection, diving to rest almost completely under the water. The water still boiled, but she didn't care.

Anything to avoid seeing the bottom of the ocean looking back at her.

* * *

His legs were getting tired and he could still hear them.

Not good.

_What did I do to deserve this?_

He would have screamed this for the world to hear, but he had to focus on getting the heck to... somewhere. Also give his position away even further? No, thank you.

But did he deserve this?

Was it because he was not forgiving enough? Not merciful? Easily angered?

Or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

A firm hand abruptly closed around his wrist and yanked him into the darkness of the alley, covering his mouth. "Careful," a husky voice whispered in his ear, pulling his frame to theirs. He made out the form of a young woman, who, in appearance, seemed more girl than adult, other than her eyes. Sayri made to tug himself away from her, but the fingers remained firm. "Don't want to die, do you?" She scrutinized him in the dark, narrowing her big eyes to something somehow predatory.

Sayri gaped and mouthed. "Who... are you?" He had to get away from her. Those things were still after him!

She ignored him, continuing to stare. "Curious... your scent is very strange. So very..." She licked her lips, curling them into a smile. "_Contradictory._ Did you know?"

"W-What are you-" She shushed him and he was forced to swallow a yelp at what felt like a crane crashing onto concrete. "What the hell are you going on about?" Now that he could look at her without running away, wasn't she completely nuts? Pale skin, purple hair... was that black in it too? Even for Japan, wasn't that weird? _Maybe she's some American Otaku..._

She sighed a little. "They make so much noise..."

Finally, he managed to break away from her and stare. "Who the hell are you? Do you know what the hell those are? They're trying to kill me! You need to get out of here!" After those words, he nearly tried to move and almost fell, oxygen trying desperately to fill his bloodstream. He coughed, hating that he could be this tired.

The girl only stared at him, releasing his wrist and turning to look out of the alleyway, where the two dragons were converged. "My name is Andrea," she said quietly, still not looking in his general direction. Her stance shifted, coiling like a spring. "And those are Digimon, my friend. Invaders from the continents in the sky. Normally, our worlds are separated... but in some cases they appear. As for running... well now," She laughed. "That would defeat the purpose of running here. I am here to kill them."

"What the hell- are you crazy?"

"Yes," she replied. "Though you are not much better. They are after your scent." Sayri looked at himself, bewildered and grateful that his legs were no longer trembling. Andrea shrugged. "Your... ah the word is hard... fear-not-fear scent is drawing them after you... it is so potent." She shrugged. "The smell people normally have on themselves... ah, yes." She pulled a long, beautiful knife from her pocket. "_Hypocrisy_, yes. It is your hypocrisy that is so potent, and they want to eat it out of you." She hummed a little, apparently pleased with herself. "Explanations shall be forthcoming, and all will be well. For now, however," Unsheathing the blade, she sank it into her palm. "Stay here and I shall dance a dance for you."

Sayri lunged for her and she nimbly spun aside, feet pushing off the wall and throwing her high into the air to land onto the next roof. Cracking her right ankle, she smiled and glanced at the knife, whose blade was darkening a wine-red. "Blutwich Dolch, _anfallen!" _Around her hands, it pulsed and danced, extending from a knife to a similarly curved blade. "Sabel," she murmured. "No pressure then." As the first turned toward the light of her blade, Andrea rushed forward and sank the blade into the metal on one yellow neck. Motioning its head, the dragon threw her back as easily as it would a small child. However, most small children didn't land on their combat-booted feet.

The dragon smiled. "A new challenger?"

"You could call it that," Andrea agreed softly, slicing her palm for a second time. "Blut," she murmured. _"Sturzen." _The droplets hissed as they touched the metal. She slashed at the air, sending them soaring. Falling like rain onto the armor, each drop sizzled with the sound of cooking meat, eating into the metal like termites into wood.

The dragon lunged for her, not hissing in pain, but roaring in hopes for a fight, for a meal. As it moved, Sayri saw its body abruptly warp out of place, phasing through a piece of another fallen building. It opened jaws to sink around the small body, but Andrea dropped from her perch like a stone, landing on the concrete and narrowly avoiding a swipe of the creature's claw. The second dragon swiped after that, sending her flying into the wall.

"I applaud your teamwork," she murmured, shaking white powder from the concrete from her head. Blood lightly dripped from one arm, but she seemed to ignore it. "Yet your battlefield knowledge is woefully inadequate. This place where you have rested your wings..." She raised a hand and placed it to the building behind her. "It is my _utopia_."

The building fell.

Sayri turned to run and avoid it, but way too fast, Andrea pushed him to the ground. "Swallow your pride a moment, my friend," she said cheerfully, standing over him with a smile.

"What the heck did you do?"he screamed. "That building could have had people in it!"

"You're welcome," she said blandly. "There weren't. Besides... such is the least of your troubles, is it not?" Before she turned away, Andrea blinked at him. "You are... really strange," she murmured. "Does your scent spike? Or is is always this strong and weak at once? Is this a trait of..." The ground rumbled behind her. "Well, I'll have to answer my queries later." She turned away and held her blade at her side. "Please stay out of things for a bit longer." She leaped back into the dust cloud.

There, the first dragon was still pulling its head from the rubble, but the second charged for her, fangs bared and claws raised. Lowering its head, the dragon sank fangs into air, and Andrea threw herself over its head, rolling onto the base of its wings. Raising her blade, she thrust it downward...

There was a very loud cracking noise... and nothing more. Even the air was horribly quiet.

The dragon laughed after recovering its wits. "Are you a fool, piercing Chrome with mere steel?"

Andrea laughed and the sound made Sayri's spine tingle. "What is steel," she purred. "Without blood and sweat and tears to forge it?" She stroked the blade with her injured hand and it _screamed_, turning deep red where it was cracked. "Do not _merely _call this steel." Each crack creating a deep red tendril that snaked into the armor. "Call this death, as it deserves. _Rust Schrein._" The armor began to grow, snaking and lengthening over the flesh. Horrified, the dragon began to scream and thrash. Andrea only smiled.

"Such a shame your armor is fused with you, isn't it?" she said softly.

It thrashed to throw her off but within moments, its rigid body hit the ground, mouth opened in a permanent scream. She shook off her cracked blade and sighed at it. Slowly, the cracks vanished, and she turned back to her opponent.

The other dragon had freed itself and at the sight of its former comrade, it roared in rage. The game was over; now it was just the slaughter. It rose and swung a sharp wing and Andrea rolled to the side, only for it to throw her aside like a bowling ball, smacking her frame against the frozen body. She got to her feet and ran, narrowly dodging a lunge of the neck. It roared at her, angry that a fly had frozen its fellow and would not simply be squashed. It crouched low and charged once more.

Andrea smiled.

In its rage, it had not seen what she had been standing by. She forced herself to crouch and slide under the dragon's body and continued its assault... right into the body of the other dragon.

At the sickening sound like falling rocks and howling metal, she sighed. "Chrome... is broken by Chrome, isn't it?" She watched the pieces of the frozen dragon fall and disperse, sliced apart by the wings of its partner. "Do you wish to continue?"

"I wish to kill you," it hissed as it turned. Sayri saw its deep blue eyes, and saw hatred.

He saw the abyss... and it frightened him.

Andrea's ruby-red gaze seemed amused. "I hoped for such words," she proclaimed, and held her blade out to meet the enemy.

Only a heartbeat pulsed between them and then the two moved. Andrea ducked from metal claws and fangs sank into her right arm. She grimaced. "Sorry, my friend, but..." She dropped her blade into her free hand and sliced the throat from end to end, through the metal and out again. It roared, releasing her injured arm and raising a claw...

But she only turned the blade like a dagger and stabbed up, quickly backing away.

The dragon lunged again and its arm vanished. Like its comrade, it began to vanish, each part of it disappearing rapidly into the sky.

Andrea tested her right arm, which hung slightly limp from her shoulder socket. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose," she sighed, holding out her blade. _"Schlafen." _It shrank into the knife again and she walked to where she had left Sayri, sheathing the knife once more. He moved to back away, but she smiled.

"Now," she said, sounding perfectly amicable. "You and I shall be taking a walk."

"How about "no, thank you"," he said quietly.

Her smile widened. "It wasn't a request, my friend."

* * *

_A/N:_ If I have butchered this German, I implore any German speakers or readers to please kindly correct me as I am going into Japanese and Hebrew, not German. I probably will end up studying it and every other language that comes up in here. Don't ask, I love the sound of other languages. Also, I apologize for the lack of symbols for certain letters. I wasn't sure it would transfer over.

"Blutwich Dolch, _anfallen!"- _Bloody Dagger, assault!

"Sabel" -referring to a type of blade known as a saber, or sabre depending on your spelling.

"Blut"-Blood

_"Sturzen."_-Overthrow

_"Rust Schrein"_-Rust Shrine

_"Schlafen."_-Sleep

And that's that. Since you have made it all the way to the end, I ask you to please drop a few words in that box there. All comments, witticisms, and questions are adored. Thanks, you guys!


	2. Connect

_**A/N:** _Here's the update! Officially. Unbetaed, but Edhla will be betaing again.

Thank you to all reviewers, my favers and follower. I'll be getting to reviews via PM when I'm not worn out from stuff.

Enjoy!

* * *

_**Episode 2: Connect**_

She was baiting him.

Andrea-if that was her name and she wasn't some on-the-run criminal- was walking only a foot away from him, but dreadfully slowly. She was giving him a chance to run. To be more accurate, she was giving him a chance to run and get run over. Though her head never turned to check if he was behind her, and her knife was back in its place in her skirt, there was an odd pressure on her back foot whenever she walked, clearly ready to kick him in the stomach if he so much as turned a foot the other way. Sayri recognized that sort of footwork very well. His mother practiced it with Teru every other day of the week.

Even with her arm injured, Sayri feared she could drag him by his neck to where they were going.

Since running was a no-go, he decided to examine her, this girl who had either saved his life or was going to murder him where he stood. Now that he looked, she was barely any taller than he was. She had a nice figure, not too slender, but not grossly muscular either. He had never taken much of an interest in girls, having talked to very few in his sheltered existence. However, he could appreciate them, particularly since this one could fell dragons.

He recalled the sickening crunch, and stopped walking, feeling sick. She stopped as well, and glanced at him, wearing a calm, gentle smile.

"Is something the matter?"

_A great deal of things are the matter with you,_ he wanted to snap, but his self-preservation kicked in just in time to bite his tongue. However, it didn't get enough of his angry thoughts because he still asked. "Did you enjoy that? Killing them, I mean?"

Andrea blinked at him, as if _not _enjoying it had never crossed her mind. "I enjoy protecting my own," was her slow reply. "I enjoy the thrill of knowing how far I have to go to do so, of knowing I have something worth fighting for."

Sayri raised an eyebrow. "And I qualify for being yours?"

"Yes," she said. "You are ours. That is why I am taking you with me: to be with everyone." She turned back to face forward, as if that were all. "Do you not feel the same?"

"No!"

The smile on her face slipped, turning into an upturned smirk. "That's not what your scent says."

Sayri wrinkled his nose. "That's disgusting."

A shrug was his answer, with no reaction to the renewed flow of blood from her injured arm. "Your scent, not mine. They did come after you because of it. The Digimon, I mean."

"Was that why you were here to save me?" It occurred to him that he should be thanking her, but he couldn't do it. The gleam in her red eyes made him want to deny her that right, by any means possible.

"No." She paused, weighing her words like a holy scripture. "We... do not wish to be here. I did not intend to arrive in this place at all, merely to head home and be with everyone."

"But," he prodded as they started to walk again. She had already started, and his breath was no longer trying to choke him. Why stop now? And she continued to speak of "we", a we that seemed as synonymous with "I" as the girl's own name.

Andrea shook her head. "We do not wish to be here. However," Her purple and black hair swung in its now loosened ponytail as she walked. "We were needed here, so we are here." Sayri stared and raised an eyebrow, hoping to convey his skepticism without words. She seemed to know it and sighed. "I am... no good at explaining these sorts of matters. Xavier or one of the others is smarter. They can do better than me."

"You're weird," he said, before he could stop himself.

She chuckled. "I am not the one with Raptordramon wanting his innards, am I?"

His ears and cheeks flushed red. "It's not like I provoked them or anything..."

"No," Andrea agreed. "Your smell is so frightened yet not frightened... weak and trying not to be weak..." Unseen, her expression turned thoughtful. "I assume they could not help themselves."

If he really were a dog, as his mother often jokingly called him, his hackles would have long since been up by now. "I don't want to hear about weakness from a girl, especially one who likes hurting people." He shook his head. "I'm not weak."

She had killed them, killed them easily and made them squirm. Even when thrown around... she had enjoyed it, enjoyed taunting them. How could someone enjoy that?

"_They could all just disappear."_

"_You hypocrite."_

Sayri scowled. "I am not weak," he repeated.

"Then what are you?" she asked, smiling again. Suddenly, he had a wild hatred of her voice, of her quirked mouth. The voice was too deep, not soft like a girl's was supposed to be. _She thinks I'm a freak too... that's why she keeps needling at me._

"You think I have to answer that?" he finally spat, both angry and ashamed with himself.

"No. You will, someday. Everyone does."

He didn't speak again. Neither did she.

In fact, though he dismissed it at the time, Sayri saw her eyes focused on a faraway building, as though it held a secret in its arms.

…

The girl scrubbed harder at her skin, at the suds.

There had been a fight. Her body had felt it, in some strange reverberation. It had triggered something, thoughts of more sad things.

_Red whipped into her vision and she fell down the stairs. She rose to climb and fell further, tumbling to the bottom floor with silent yelps of pain. She tried to stand, but went dizzy, paws weak and shaking at the sight of so much red in her fur and on the ground._

"_Don't look at me with those cursed eyes of yours," whispered the corpse. "Don't you dare."_

Who was she a curse on? Who was fighting outside?

The past and the present... they all had questions she cannot answer.

"_You aren't dead."_

"_Out of spite, mostly."_

_Laughter should have been harsh. The voice in the memory was gentle. "No rest for the wicked, hm?"_

She scrubbed harder, until even the unscarred skin was pink and turning red.

"_No rest for the weak," she heard what must have been her own voice answer. "No rest for the minions of fools."_

"_Our master's a fool?" Polite puzzlement registered instead of appalled fear, as it wouldn't from anyone else._

_Her mouth gave a bitter scoff, rubbing at scabbing skin beneath regrowing hairs. "All masters are."_

As she drained the water, the girl felt her eyes burn and wiped them with a towel. She had a home, a kind caretaker. Why would she be crying?

_These don't belong to you. This isn't right._

Her head pulsed with pain and with it shifted her ears. They rubbed agitatedly against the fabric of the towel and in response _it _swished, as if trying to slash down a fly. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pretend it was gone, but it continued to move, whipping the air with her discomfort.

_This is all wrong._

If it was wrong, then why did it hurt so much to fix it?

You cannot be happy until everything is well. Fix it.

"I don't know what to fix," she mumbled, slipping herself back into her bare, thick clothing. Making her slow way out of the bathroom, the girl sighed in both pain and resignation. Her brain had none of its answers, no understanding. It was unfair to keep being asked. Another part of herself chuckled, but said nothing more to this.

So the girl sat out on the concrete of the balcony and rubbed her head, trying to remember, and to send the pain away. The latter did not occur, but in a waterfall's rush, she saw faint images and heard voices as though through water. They were each clamoring for attention, like many children in a small room, so it was impossible to make them all out.

There was so much that she had to know that she didn't want to learn of it.

But wishes were things that couldn't always be granted.

The girl sighed, dismissed her other name from the back of her mind, and went to bring out the wash to dry.

Life moved on... and maybe the past would too.

Somehow, 'Kayla' doubted it.

…

By the time they had passed the supermarket, Sayri still hadn't mustered up the gratitude he knew he ought to have.

It didn't seem that Andrea cared about it either.

Someone jangled a bike bell and called behind them. "Andy! I'm over here!" Sayri turned before Andrea, and looked at the newcomer. Cycling forward was a girl with brown hair, waving one excitable tan hand as she maneuvered the bicycle with the other.

"Ivy," Andrea mumbled. "Don't fall." A fond smile rose on to her face as she turned.

'Ivy' grinned an impish smile. "Andy worries too much about me," she declared and the bike wobbled precariously. Sayri, who was closer, went to catch her, and Andrea easily slipped past to catch the bicycle. Unfortunately for Ivy, the sudden loss of movement jolted her off, knocking over the groceries in the basket. Sayri caught her waist as they hit the ground and then yelped in embarrassment, finding his hands dangerously close to her chest. Instantly, he let go, even though the young woman didn't even seem perturbed.

"S-Sorry!"

Ivy giggled. "You missed, though!" She brushed herself off and sat up, grinning. She stepped away from him fairly quickly, but turned back, offering a dark hand. "Nice look there," she chirped.

Sayri flushed. She was quite pretty, not the boyish pretty of Andrea, but genuine I-am-a-woman pretty, and it was nice. Her hair was even ordinary, darker than her skin barring odd parts of gold. "Um... I... thanks..." She pulled him up and he blinked. "What's up with your pants?"

She glanced at the tears in the fabric and shrugged. "Fashion sense. Who are you?"

"I-"

"Your scent is strong and weird," she added without preamble, and turned to Andrea. "Andy," she said to the girl as she picked up the fallen items from the basket. Her voice was odd, cute even. It reminded him of his sister's, only a little deeper. "Who is he?"

Like Andrea, she stated the words as fact. Unlike Andrea, she didn't seem to find it all that entertaining. She just seemed to take it as it was. Of course, it didn't help in the slightest, but it was nice to have nothing held against him... for once.

He gave a small bow, before Andrea could get a word in. "I'm Sayri. Sayri Chatan. And she's been telling me that little scent thing this whole time," Sayri added with a jerk of the thumb. "Hasn't been very nice about it either."

Andrea finished with the bags and righted the bike, paying him no attention. Ivy, however, giggled, and wrapped her arms around the other's non-injured arm. "Andrea isn't good with strangers." Andrea's face turned a mild pink with embarrassment. She murmured something that made Ivy giggle. "Except with fighting. She has a _lot of fun _beating people up when they deserve it."

Sayri tried to smirk but only ended up with a grimace, thinking of those dragons... thinking of Ginga. "I... got to see that."

Ivy's mouth formed an "O". "Oh, _you're_ why her arm is bleeding," she said, placing a hand to the other's torn up shoulder. Sayri looked away, and nodded. Now the gratitude washed up and his throat hurt too much to say anything.

"_Ivinci_," Andrea scolded, expression and bike under control. "It was a necessary thing."

Ivy grinned sheepishly. "Of course it was, I wasn't meaning it like that." Her last words were directed at Sayri. "But Andy doesn't chase Raptordramon like that for no reason. They're small fry, you know."

Sayri blinked. "If giant metal dragons are your idea of a small fry, then I'm afraid to know what a real threat looks like."

Ivy -Ivinci?- giggled. "Andy is, of course!"

Andrea smiled a little, pale flush returning to her cheeks.

Sayri felt his heart slow to a more manageable level. Maybe that girl was a little nicer than he thought. That being said... she still hurt creatures for fun.

And that was _not_ okay.

…

"One... two... buckle my shoe... three, four..."

"Xavier, shut up."

"What's the magic word, Erin?"

"... Please stop singing that monstrosity."

"I _knew_ you had it in you."

Erin scowled over blue fringe and glared at Xavier, shooting him the bird with his left hand. The man only shrugged, still wearing his mocking smile. "You are _such_ a pain in the ass."

"Yes, but I am the one paying the bills, aren't I?" Xavier murmured, going back through his perusal of the electricity charges. "Honestly, what is Asteria _doing_ in there?"

Erin ignored the rhetorical question, turning back to pulling his blue hair from his face. _How the hell do girls do this? _"Shit's so finicky," he grumbled, attempting to tug his comb through a knot. "Ow!" Burying his head in his hands, Erin groaned. He hated his hair.

But he hated looking dirty even more.

Thin fingers gently tugged the potentially abused hair instrument from his clenched fist and Erin heard the sound of someone running it under a faucet. Then the fingers were back on his head, gently tugging the comb through strands of blue.

Erin grunted, lifting his head so his chin rested on his arms. "...Thanks Jade." There was a sharp tug, forcing him to sit up straight. "M-My bad..."

Jade let go of his hair for a moment and slipped his fingers over Erin's cheek, stroking the skin in a manner that Erin knew meant [I'm trying not to hurt you.] The hand ghosted away and the other went right back to work. As he combed, Jade's index finger tapped Erin's forehead. He tapped back and relaxed, trying not to move at the sound of hair ripping by his ears.

"Get a room, the pair of you," Xavier hummed.

"You first." Erin's answer held much less rancor than it would have ten minutes ago. Jade made no silent comeback, merely focused on his work. "Ya ought to become one of those... oh what're they called Jade... a hair stylist!" He winked one amber eye, knowing Jade would be able to make out what he was doing. "F'rget the pot o' gold thingy, we'd be rich in weeks!"

The fingers paused to give scolding taps to Erin's temples. [Don't joke around like that!]

"Jade probably has a point," Xavier noted, leaving his desk to sit by them. "Dangerous words for dangerous times, Erin."

Erin stuck out his tongue and pouted. "Thanks for ruining the moment, you prudish bastard," he grumbled. "Jade's good! I was just praisin' him." Jade smiled ruefully and pulled him back to an upright place in his chair again, kissing the back of Erin's head. Instantly, Erin fell quiet and earned a laugh.

[Good child.] Jade teased with a light drag of his nails. The other grumbled again, but made no attempt to dissuade him.

Xavier chuckled, then glanced at his desk at the sound of a beep. Going to check the computer monitor, he shook his head. "Asteria," he explained simply.

Erin made a noise of dismay and brushed his blue hair easily around his face again. "Andrea's still not back yet... must have taken more time than we thought it would... go on Jade." Jade nodded and left the room, heading toward the other side of the apartment. His expression was pensive, but calm, and Erin admired him for it. That endless peace was needed more than ever, now that...

Well, things were just different now.

He was okay with it, for the most part.

Erin pulled his slight body up from the chair. "I should go too... you be all right without anybody, bastard?" Xavier smiled his answer and Erin took the cue, rising to his feet. If Asteria got out like this... she could really hurt someone.

Like it or not, they couldn't afford to take that risk, could they?

Before he could take a few steps, however, he winced as a smell assaulted his nose. Erin grimaced. "The girls are bringing _prey _to the dinner table."

Xavier frowned, the posh expression as annoying as it must have been to make. "Your terminology is as unflattering as always, Erin."

The other shrugged. "I'm the one running this show," he said with a sneer towards Xavier's red hair framed face and gently manly _everything_. "You work it, and I host it. That was-"

"Part of the deal," Xavier sighed, the sound all-calming and teasing. "Would it harm you to humor my follies anyway?"

Erin turned red and he shifted on the balls of his feet. "Yer follies 're petty grievances," he mumbled. However, Erin made no more rude comments and Xavier indulged him with a pat on the head.

"You're such a good kid, Erin," he chirped, taking the risk of mussing the other's hair.

Erin squirmed away, scowling. "I'm _sixteen_, damn you!" he snapped. "Not a kid anymore!"

"You'll always be that cute kid to me!"

"Shaddup!"

"We're back! Just in time for male bonding, too! Look, Andy!"

Ivy pushed open the door, and paper bags rustled as people tried to bring them in. Erin stuck his tongue out at Ivy and Xavier only laughed, returning to his desk. Had to look domestic, didn't he?

Even after almost six years with the guy, Erin had no clue what was up with him.

"... Ivy, you're being very noisy." Andrea bustled past with a paper bag, hurrying to set it on the counter. Ivy only giggled.

Erin smirked and grimaced. Ooh, Andy sounded tired. Leader intervention time. "Ivinci, stop bothering Andrea." _Asteria is lonely. _And only Andrea could get Asteria out of a three hour mood that made the alarm beep.

Even if the implication was enough, Ivy couldn't just nod meekly and step aside. No, she had to get in a huff and stomp over to where he stood. "E-rin," she cooed, and he raised his hands, ready to grab her tiny fists. "Don't tell me what to do, you tsundere prick!" She threw herself at him and he grinned, moving so they hit the couch instead of the floor.

"Oh, so you wanna go, huh sweetheart?" he crowed, easily rolling her off.

"Always," she chirped. "You aren't the pretty boy, after all!"

"Then who is?"

Through this, Andrea let out a soft sigh, giving Sayri a small nod. "Come now, my friend," she said, sounding mildly airy. "They're just playing. No one will bite you."

"Except you," Sayri muttered, creeping in with the other bag. He took a look at her arm, which was no longer bleeding, simply hanging gingerly about her shoulder socket. "Where do I put this?" he asked her.

For a moment, she didn't answer, eyes unfocused and heavy-lidded. Then she gestured to the other side of the counter, leaning on a small white fridge instead. He nodded and followed her instructions, watching her dazed expression slowly weave further out of focus. Abruptly, her legs slid down and Sayri reached to grab her.

However, that blue boy was somehow quicker, standing between them and pulling her up by the waist. "Easy, girl," he muttered, turning a glare onto Sayri without so much as blinking. "Don't touch her, you smelly fool. She'll get your germs."

"I was going to help!" he snapped. What was with these people?

"Sure you were," the other sneered. "If your idea of help involves getting one of my family injured again!" Andrea pulled herself up again, looking at Sayri rather oddly, as though she knew better than that.

"I was not!"

"Your scent begs to differ," the other boy said with a scoff. "Now, stay over there."

Sayri coiled himself into a fighting position, clenching his fists. Dragon-slayer he was not, ass kicker he could certainly be. "Why the hell should I do that, hm?"

The teen -Erin? Had Ivy called him that?- snorted. "Andrea saved you and brought you here. That means you're under us right now, and _that_ means you are under my command."

Sayri glared down, literally down, at the odd guy. Who the hell did he think he was? He didn't just bow his head to some stranger! He wasn't bowing to some killer or to Ginga, what the hell implied that he was some meek kid to lick the shoes of any authority in the area? Bastard...

Erin smirked. "You've got that look in your eyes."

"What look?"

_Parrot._ "The 'I'm-better-than-this-punk' look." Erin chuckled, turning himself to face Sayri fully, amber eyes laughing at his expense. "Newsflash: you ain't. You're just a freak with dark skin and angry eyes, and nothing else."

Alarm bells of red rage resounded in his head and Sayri didn't feel himself throw the first punch. What he did feel was a solid hit to his stomach. It was like someone had stabbed him with his sandbag. He doubled over and stumbled back, but kept himself standing.

Erin paused, frowning minutely as he pulled back his fist again. His face bore no impact from Sayri's attack, but his stance had changed, one foot behind the other. "Guess I didn't hit you hard enough," he mused. "Most people would be on their ass by now. Physical training?"

Sayri smirked through a cough. "I'm not most people," he rasped. "But yes. And damn good at it."

"Really." Sayri ducked from a swing and mentally, cursed as a leg casually tripped him up and sent him toppling to the tile, almost hitting his head. "Not as good as us, clearly." His eyes were still distasteful and that expression was what made him stand up against Erin again.

"So what... if I'm not?" he sneered. "Want to make something of it?"

He moved to punch again, but from the other side of the room, that man sighed playfully. "Erin, enough. Stop baiting him."

Erin scoffed and slid to a casual stance, hands in his pockets. He shot a final glare at Sayri as he left the room, Sayri glaring right back. Andrea watched him go, then looked between the man and Sayri and the door. Sayri, moving to a normal standing position to breathe again, thought she looked anxious. "You go too, Andrea," the man continued, still examining a paper. "Asteria missed you and you are clearly too tired to help with dinner. Ivinci, make sure she gets there."

Ivy scowled at the use of her full name, but grinned and saluted seconds later. "Kay, Mr. Xavier!" She hopped off the couch and directed Andrea away by the arm. "Come on, missy, let's play some board games! Or do shadow puppets!" Icy babbled merrily all the way out of the room until Sayri couldn't hear her anymore. When her voice was quiet, the young man chuckled. "Kids these days, hm?"

Sayri, anger not abated, turned to glare at the man. He was tall, dwarfing Sayri himself by at least half a foot. He wasn't very wide, nor all that intimidating, but Sayri found himself recoiling anyway. He sat at ease in the computer chair, extending a light-skinned hand to be shaken. Sayri flushed and did so, the motion a little awkward, anger now giving way to sheepish fear. "Is she that bad?" he murmured. "I didn't think-"

The man shrugged. "She didn't want to worry you. You are her new friend, after all. That's good. She has trouble making friends."

"I didn't do anything," he said automatically. _Just stood there looking dumb._

Xavier laughed, and the sound was lighter than the teen expected. It was more like Ivy's, not at the person's expense, but just there. "Oh, make no mistake, scent complaints not withstanding, every one of those Chimaera has already named you comrade."

Sayri blinked. "That..." he began slowly. "That doesn't make any sense."

Another chuckle. "My friend, the world lost its senses a long time ago." He sighed and lit a cigarette, careless to Sayri's pointed look away from the trail of nicotine smoke. "To humans like you and I, however, you're quite right. To creatures like them, however..." Xavier gestured to the open doorway. "Those thoughts are petty and unneeded at best."

Sayri raised an eyebrow and shifted unconsciously from what his mother, in a fit of rare anger, had called a cancer stick. "So... are you like the _X-Men_ or something?"

"Nein," he said softly. "These children are no glorified heroes. They are survivors. The difference to them is as stark as fire to ice. To be a hero means to save a great deal and to survive means to lose it."

The man shook his head. "Let me put this better. My apologies, as I don't even fully grasp it. I am Xavier Shay... and you are being watched over by these dear children, per Andrea's beliefs... or perhaps her visions. They are human... but they are also the creatures that must have tried to kill you. And Andrea must believe you are capable of helping us... them... with their mission."

He extended his hand, smiling through the smoke. "The pleasure is entirely mine."


	3. electric universe

_**A/N: **_Shoot, it's late. I am so sorry. This week was almost a no update for me. Between movies and wearing out my ankles and college next week, I've been kinda drained bad. Oh well, I can do this. Chapter is currently betaed.

For all the language stuff... such as the German or Japanese, that's my way of expressing culture. Also, nobody likes Sayri. I know. I accept this. Don't worry about it.

This chapter has the official introduction of the final OC! Well, main OC. Last I checked, there are no others. I will do review replies in the morning. I am absolutely drained.

* * *

_**Episode Three: electric universe**_

"Kayla, I'm home!"

"Welcome home!"

Even though the name was wrong, the _aisatsu _greetings were warm in her. She had always liked the words. In the dimmest part of her memories, she thought of them with thoughts of butterflies and hugs. They were able to banish the dread coiling in her stomach, if for the moment.

She pulled herself to sit up from her spot on the coffee table and jump to the floor. She scrambled to grab grocery bags from the somewhat frail hands and smile a real smile. In part, she was successful, until the woman sighed.

"I keep telling you not to sleep on the coffee table," she heard the woman say. "You'll get a neck cramp." She knelt and brushed thin white hairs from the girl's face. She was slow to react, dimly thinking of a smaller, stronger hand brushing at her hair like that, once.

Who was it? Did they smile? What was their name?

Was this memory important?

_You wouldn't think about it if it wasn't._

Her mind began to whirl, and she froze. The dread rose again, mounting with that sense of urgency that accompanied her being sick. Before the woman could speak, she was running, running to the toilet, the sink, anywhere. Her face turned a mottled gray and she vomited, body protesting as her brain clicked (clicked?) to wakefulness, to processing pieces of scrambled...

"_...get in my way..."_

"_I would have lived a life with no meaning..."_

"_Always, always, waiting, waiting... searching and searching... and nothing..."_

"_Even if it's futile, I want to-"_

She was vaguely aware of a hand on her back, soothing the twitching _thing_ lashing at anything in the air. Her shoulders quivered as she dry-heaved.

_Where are you?_

What was her name? If she knew her real name, everything would become clear.

"_And I will find you-"_

The girl screamed.

* * *

"Ooh my, you _are_ enjoying yourself, aren't you?"

Piemon sipped his drink, smiling, as was his nature. He really was a poor spectator, always talking during the show. In a strange way, the other occupant of this place was not perturbed. He sat at the edge of the monochrome circus tent, chuckling in a mindless gurgle.

"Despair is a good drink. However, it requires great patience and technique. Do you not dress it with fear?"

The clown brushed at his mask with a fanged smile. "That is a trick we must both agree to share." He paused, turning from the monitor he had been looking at to pierce the other with one blue eye. "It is rare to see only a proxy of you. How do they fare?"

There was a slick, slurping noise as the other shrugged. "Nothing exquisite. Still fledglings to be tended to, still many prayers to chant. Work is endless."

"You are so dutiful that it hurts my sides," the clown commented. "Have any of them started to scream?"

"One. One doesn't even speak anymore, while the others weep or think. The silent one is likely the closest. I'll leave that one to stew." The speaker sighed. "Nothing is quite so potent as what the soul does to itself, in my humble opinion."

Piemon smiled. "Indeed, tis a very accurate opinion. Not that I have ha to concern myself with thinking of it, of course."

"Of course." Without a farewell, the other occupant vanished.

The clown chuckled. "Are the toys broken yet, I wonder? I have all the time in the world to check." He giggled. "The _cat's_ away," He dangled a whistle on one finger. "So the _mice_ can continue to play."

* * *

"I... I'm sorry?"

Sayri stared at Xavier, waiting for him to smile, to indicate somehow that he was joking. Instead, the man's face grew somber again the more minutes ticked past. "I... They ain't-" He cleared his throat. "Sorry... they aren't human?" _That would explain the hair... and the blood..._

"Not as human as you or I, for a certainty," replied the man, blowing a puff of cigarette smoke again. "Human enough to not kill us on sight or pretend to function as humans do, or at least as societies see it. Inhuman enough to cut out what are in essence their own kind and to be uncomfortable around someone like yourself. Does that make sense...?"

"Sayri, Sayri Chatan." He gave a quick bow, hands at his sides. "I... I'm sorry, but it really doesn't." How could it? They certainly looked almost entirely human to him.

Xavier shrugged. "That's perfectly fair. I cannot truly claim an expertise in the area myself, nor can they. As far as they are aware, they are a unique race, _different _from you or I."

The word different made Sayri scowl. "Certainly seemed more like they believed they were deserving of special treatment to me." Then, realizing what he had said, he clapped his hands over his mouth.

Xavier seemed not to notice, or for that matter, care about his behavior. His breaching of all things Japanese etiquette would have been slapped down by any non-foreigner, though. "I do not believe they have the notion of feeling entitled about their situation. That is a very human, irrational notion."

Sayri opened his mouth to disagree, but something in those quiet, dark eyes made him swallow those words and regurgitate others. "What about you, then? Why are you all here?"

Xavier smiled, putting the butt of his smoke in the nearly empty ashtray. "As I said, I am their caretaker. None of them are old enough or knowledgeable enough to live on their own as of yet, so I take care of them. As for why they chose here in Odaiba of all places, well, that is a question they may have to answer for me. All they have spoken of is that this city is the source of the problems in the world."

"The world has a lot of problems," Sayri said doubtfully. "Japan can't have caused all of them."

Xavier gave a low, deep chuckle again. "Of course not, but our recent anomalies are, according to them, centered around here."

"Anomalies," Sayri looked out the balcony window, at the faint strips of land in the sky. "That place... it came from here?"

The man shook his head. "I highly doubt that; that place appears much too big for my eyes. My hypothesis is that here in this city was where everything was meant to begin and end... and for some unknown reason, this did not happen. Something has gone wrong in that world in the sky and those kids... they feel duty-bound to fix it. I do not know why they desire to take matters into their own hands, only that clearly, the ones who were meant to do so, could not."

"Why couldn't they?" He shouldn't believe this. It sounded like a video game. It sounded so reasonable, though...

His head... it felt oddly fuzzy. He tried to clear it, but whenever he tried, images and sounds rose up again.

Blood, lots of glistening red droplets turned a dragon to stillness and Andrea was smiling over it. Buildings smoked and crumbled and in the very back of his mind was the screaming of sirens.

Someone was coughing.

"Easy, my lad. Breathe, breathe." Xavier grimaced at the lack of response. "Jade!" He knew the boy would be able to hear him. "The lad's having a panic attack! Get in here!" He went back to the careful task of coaxing Sayri to relax. In a dim part of awareness, Sayri felt each movement was rote and well-practiced.

She had enjoyed herself, enjoyed hurting _people_.

_"Curious... your scent is very strange. So very..." She licked her lips, curling them into a smile. "____Contradictory.__ Did you know?"_

No... shut up... I'm a normal human.

"_Of course you are."_

"_We're playing a game."_

"_He didn't have to be taught the rules."_

No, shut up. Shut... up!

Why me? Why did this happen?

Something cold suddenly dripped down his neck and he shuddered. Thin fingers delicately began to trace up and down his face, circling patterns on his cheeks and tapping below his jaw. Every spot felt cold and wet, like tears had fallen there.

The panic began to recede, as though frightened of that touch. Sayri opened his eyes, unaware he had closed them, and found himself looking at blue irises, a rather clear color. Almost unnatural. The boy smiled, and instantly removed his hands. Looking at this person's smile, they made Sayri think of a warm bath. He managed a smile of his own, though it felt rather inadequate, like a poorly written thank-you card.

"Are you with us, lad?" Xavier was whispering, as though frightened to speak any louder.

Sayri nodded. "Um.. my apologies for whatever I just-"

"You had a panic attack," Xavier dismissed. "Only natural. A lot to take in today. We'll send you on home." The other boy kept his eyes on Sayri as Xavier spoke, looking at him with unmistakable empathic pity. Sayri waited for the anger to rise in his stomach at the idea of being pitied, and was puzzled when it didn't arrive. "Jade, will you make sure he gets there safely?" The boy-Jade- nodded, short pink hair flicking all about his ears as he did so. He offered Sayri a hand and it was taken, easily propelling the taller teen back to his feet. Behind him, Sayri heard a voice mutter snidely.

"Jes' gonna let him go home helpless then?" Erin was behind them now, glaring at Sayri and twisting a lock of blue hair around one finger. What was his problem? When Sayri was standing, Jade released him, smirking with fond exasperation.

Xavier sighed. "Don't worry, Erin, I was planning on mentioning it. We have to allow him time to think, you understand?" Erin flushed and turned away from them, leaving Jade to silently titter behind his other hand.

"No thanks," Sayri said abruptly, heading for the door. "Whatever it is, I'm good. I don't need a bodyguard either." His head was a lot clearer now, and he had no qualms with saying his next words. "You guys are all nutters anyway."

Before he could reach the door, Erin was somehow in front of him, again. How in the hell was he doing that?" Deciding to continue on, Sayri changed his hand into a fist, which ended up grabbed harmlessly by the smaller teen's larger hand. "Sorry, you smelly punk," Erin said, looking more derisive than apologetic. "Andy decided to take you in, and whether any of us like it or not, we're doin' it."

"That's some forward thinking you've got there," Sayri challenged.

Erin shrugged. "Take it how you want, kiddy. I trust Andy's gut. Besides, your stench is so disgustingly strong that it gets _cybernetic _creatures hunting you down. Who knows what kind o' chaos you could get up to?" He stepped to the side. "If you want to get though, knowin' that, then I can bet ya won' stay gone."

Sayri scowled. "Coulda just let me go in the first place." He slipped out the door, and Jade followed. He winced, feeling suddenly awkward. This guy had been nothing but nice. "Hey, um... you don't have to follow me if you don't want to." Jade smiled and pointed down the stairs and Sayri gave up. "Well... all right... your choice I guess..."

"Jade." The other turned to face Erin, salmon pink hoodie flopping like an oversized bunny ear over his cut jeans. Erin's face was a surprising bright red as he struggled for speech. "Don't... don't play with him, all right?"

Jade looked puzzled a moment, then he smiled and strode back over to where Erin stood. Leaning down, he kissed the other, a mischievous smirk curving his lips. Not that Sayri saw this, he had instantly turned away with his face red. You didn't... you just didn't do that in public like that! Shut the door at least!

Xavier coughed discreetly and Sayri almost fell from Jade zipping past him. He gaped at the other's playful nonchalance and went after him, trying to keep from grimacing.

It wasn't that it _bothered _him or something... but that was supposed to be behind closed doors! Private!

He caught up with Jade and gave him a reproachful look. "You know we're going to _my _apartment, right?" Jade shrugged and Sayri looked away, still embarrassed. For a few moments, they walked side-by-side, Jade making a movement that seemed almost like skipping. This one was just as weird as the others by the looks of it.

"So..." he began awkwardly and he felt the brilliant gaze on him again, fully intent on hearing what he had to say. It was a nice feeling... but also really, really disconcerting. "How'd you... uh... calm me down like that?"

There was a popping noise in response and soon there were floating heart-shaped bubbles all around Sayri's head. He poked one experimentally and it popped, leaving his finger wet and an ease in his shoulders. "Can all of you guys do that?" Jade shook his head and let Sayri lead them down a street. It was getting later in the day and in the light of the flickering streetlights, he thought Jade looked a little melancholy. "Are you all right?"

Jade smiled and Sayri found his question unanswered as for the rest of the walk, they were both silent, each for their own reasons.

"... It's up here," Sayri finally said, earning a nod from his companion, who had gone back to his odd skipping walk again. "There's an elevator, but it's a bit slow."

Jade nodded, watching as he waved at a neighbor and entered the elevator car. Sayri glanced at Jade again, noting the peace that was almost an angel halo. _This is too surreal, _ he thought, and for a moment, his vision wavered. The contents of his stomach rose and then Jade's fingers were resting at his own hand, circling the palm with his thumb. Sayri almost jumped away but the other merely placed a folded piece of paper in the hand he had held onto seconds earlier.

"Wha-" Jade put a finger over Sayri's lips, winking conspiratorially. Sayri looked at him with dismay and took a few deep breaths, hoping to calm himself. He had to look normal, like everything was perfectly cool.

It wasn't every day you came home with a pink-haired boy and no textbook in hand. His brothers were going to have a fit. Having made it to his apartment door, he fumbled for the key. But the door opened and saw the dark face of his sister. "H-Hey, Dakota," he began sheepishly. "Um, I'm home, sorry I'm late... huh?" She was crying. "What... what's the matter?" Her big eyes usually told him everything, but now they were too big and old for him to understand.

She didn't speak, merely tackled his chest and wailed. Confused, he glanced at Jade, who was looking inside. "Wha-What's goin' on? I was just out playing games." _And getting attacked..._

"Haven't you seen the news, my cub?" His mother's voice came from where the small kitchen was, calm and distant from her focus on the scents around her. "Near where you go to play and to run... that area was said to have been bombed. You know how your sister gets."

"Was m'nsters," Dakota mumbled in defiance into his shirt. His mother gave a sigh. Feeling self-conscious, Sayri patted her dark curls and glanced at Jade again. He couldn't exactly say his sister was right, could he? Jade shook his head back at him and his mother turned. Instead of being angry at Sayri, however, her eyes brightened at Jade.

"Oh cub, this is one of Shay's boys. A good man, he is, taking care of others like that." She stepped away from her work and gestured for them all to enter the house. Jade bowed his head in acknowledgment of her words. "I met the man at work," she explained to the confusion of her son, who was still absently hugging Dakota with an arm. "You must have helped keep my silly cub out of danger," she said in that earnest but slighting way that always made Sayri ashamed of himself. Jade nodded, smile now looking shy as he shook her hand. "Would you like a snack?"

Jade shook his head and released her hand. With a bow, and a shaky sort of smile, he departed from the open door. Sayri blinked at his back.

"That was kind of rude of him," he remarked. "Could have said goodbye." Dakota sniffled, seeming to agree.

Winona sighed. "Oh my poor, unobservant cubs, he _was _speaking. Just because all you do is wag your tongues with less decorum than a tourist does not mean all children can do the same."

Sayri's cheeks burned and he swallowed the now hard-to-control rage in his throat. "How-How do you know that?"

His mother smiled. "When he shook my hand, his fingers said to me: [You are a good woman, like my da was a good man.] He speaks with his eyes and his hands, cub. His neck was a testament to that." She frowned. "He was trying to convey something to you as well. What with the way he left... it might have been something grave."

Sayri blinked his dismay and wondered. Then he choked, and there were no calming bubbles this time to help him breathe.

"_Your scent attracts the monsters to you."_

* * *

It was late at night, and yet he could not sleep.

Sayri stared at his bedroom ceiling, clutching the paper Jade had given him in one hand. It had not said much, merely said what Xavier-san had not. Of course, it didn't make any sense, but Sayri was now relatively certain that there were no solid answer that he was able to understand.

Those guys were all in the same situation, and for some reason, he had the odd misfortune of smelling potently edible to those creatures. Digimon couldn't control the urge to hunt, like he could not control the urge to survive. It was almost something to pity... except for the fact that he was their prey... which pissed him off.

They were going to protect him... and for reasons they didn't really know, other than that the scariest one of them said to do it.

He knew he shouldn't believe any of this, yet there was no way to explain away a deep bite mark in Andrea's shoulder or the blood of her palm. He couldn't explain the bubbles or Erin's speed.

He was not a very rational person... and Sayri wasn't sure if that was working in his favor or not.

Now, knowing that, he was left alone. Left alone to do what, instead of it being easy and them keeping him at their apartment. "What the hell do they want..."

"We want you to choose the way you live."

Sayri jumped, sitting up in bed and glaring around the room. "Who the hell was that?"

"Shh." The voice spoke the word and he froze. It was such a young voice, maybe it was a kid...or a girl? "I'm... here from Andy. She was thinking someone strong would come after you. I didn't want to scare you by coming into your house... I guess I scared you." The voice sounded pensive.

"Not really," he said automatically because that was what you said to girls when your manly pride took a hit... wasn't it? "Uh... you don't have to stay out there if you don't want to."

The girl came inside from his window at that, and he found himself looking at someone who, even with Jade who looked like a really girly boy, was downright odd. Everything about this girl, down to her clothes, seemed white as the moon, barring golden streaks in her hair. The sun would probably burn her on a cloudy day. She was not beautifully strong like Andrea, or simply pretty as Ivy had looked, but a strange fragility lay about her instead, particularly in her bare feet. "Teri," she said without preamble before curling herself up on his floor.

Sayri looked at her and her suddenly deeply asleep form. He didn't exactly feel safe with this.

Somehow, he went to sleep anyway.

* * *

"Wake up, please."

Teri was shaking him none-too-gently. For a moment, his brain was fuzzy from sleep, but then his ears caught the sounds of crashing and screams. These, along with a very loud wail, made him sit up. "Whazzat?" he asked as very suddenly, the room wobbled. "Woah..."

"A Stegomon crashed into your building," Teri informed him, looking out his window. He stared at her.

"A what?"

Teri frowned, as if thinking she wasn't clear enough. "A Stegomon. Big, ancient dinosaur monster with blades instead of plates. They're kind of dangerous."

Sayri leaned over the girl's head to see. It was easy as she was surprisingly short. Or maybe he was just really tall, like he kept denying to himself. Leaning a little further, he saw the glint of dull metal against broken city streetlights and grimaced. "I think 'kind of' is an understatement," he admitted, looking around. "Um... could Andrea take on that? It sure is bigger than that Raptor thingy." He knew how big a Stegosaurus could get and... that thing was like the size of a four story chapel. "Cause... I don't think that's a herbivore..."

"Only with human meat," she replied, looking out the window still. Even as screams and smoke grew in the air like gray flowers, her expression didn't linger. "Humans all smell, you know." Her voice was calm, but Sayri could still feel this click of anger beneath her words. "They all stink with some sort of thing... and Digimon desire the power from it. They can't even think not to. To survive... you need power after all." Her small fists clenched and around them, the air began to crackle. "Some merely control humans and take the power directly." The noise grew louder and she grimaced. "Others merely eat them, and take... ahh... all of it at once." Blue lights danced about her skin and she winced in pain. "Stegomon... khh..." Teri hissed through her teeth. "Stegomon is one of the latter kind."

"Stop that!" Sayri reached to grab her hands. "You're hurting yourself for no reason!"

"Power comes at a price," she said with a stubborn tilt to her pointed chin. "Andy told me to keep you and your loved ones safe."

"Screw that!" Sayri snapped. "Screw that! I can't accept that! Hurting other people like that... hurting yourself like that... that's not right at all! Even I..."

"_They should all just disappear."_

"Even I..."

"_Your scent is so... contradictory."_

Sayri felt like his mouth was full of cotton.. "This is my fault anyway," he finally said, not sure what he could say but feeling obligated to stop her. "I need to take responsibility... for whatever it is I did."

"Don't be so conceited," Teri said, and something in her voice irked him. "Who cares about blame? You go out there," she continued, eyes watching the dinosaur, whose large body was shuffling away from the building. "You're going to die and guess what? That thing outside will be even stronger!"

"It's better than you getting hurt!"

"Get down!" She knocked him to the floor, just as a loud, shattering roar broke the air of the city and something smashed painfully into the building. The room tilted and Sayri heard someone beating on his bedroom door. However, he couldn't pay attention to them, as Teri was looking down on him with fiery pale eyes. "This is not about blame," she repeated. "This is about strength. You aren't strong. You're _weak, _just like me. Only I can do something about it. You can't do anything at all against that guy."

He thought he heard one of his brothers scream and struggled against the iron grip of her glowing hands. "Let me up! He's in pain. I know Teru's in pain! I know! Let me go!"

She did, but not due to his strength. She was covering her nose, grimacing. "You... you... awful person."

"Me?" he snapped, incredulous. She was the one calling him weak.

"We were human once," she said, eyes full of anger and hurt and something else. "You and your stupid smell... don't you know how rude you are?" She scoffed and the noise was not airy, her voice was hoarse with pain. "If it wasn't for Andy... I would... I would just kill you."

"Do it then!" he roared. "Go on, stop being all talk and do it!"

Teri raised a hand, and in it was a wooden cross. She seemed about to move, to take him up on that offer. However, with a supreme effort, she decided against it. "My hands are meant to protect," she said quietly.

These words, more than the gesture, were what calmed him, what set his mind at ease. _I can trust her. _She did not like him, and he was more than sure none of them really did, but she was willing to set that aside by her own choice, and with the desire to keep people safe and not simply the joy of striking another to the ground.

Had Andrea taught her to do that?

Sayri realized instantly that there was no time to think about it and wonder. "Thanks..." he said quietly. "Now... help them, my family. Please." Before she could think of saying no, he turned to the window and ran to the railing. "I know this is stupid... but I don't have a plan B. You might. This is all I've got."

He jumped from his windowsill and shouted. "Main course up here, you fat idiot!"

The stegosaurus looked up, as though noticing a fly and Sayri chuckled bitterly to himself.

"Oh come now, are you truly satisfied with this?"

His fall seemed to have slowed. Sayri was frozen in the air, held up by some great invisible puppet toy. Green eyes looked harshly into his own narrow brown and seemed to radiate disapproval. "You, who have such a high and mighty goal, are you really happy with this meager display?"

"Of course I'm not!" He tried to shout this through his half-open mouth and came up short. "But it can't be helped. I don't have any-"

"Pardon me but that is B.S." The voice was highly entertained... or perhaps observing some sort of decorum. "You have so much anger! Don't abandon it now! Show it to me! Let me see the rage burn in your eyes! Who cares what the world thinks?"

Time began again and Sayri fell towards a particularly pointed blade and screamed. The feral noise was half in fury and half in fear and all was loud and piercing. It ached in his head with the former panic.

He didn't want to die here, not really.

"Too right to think that," the voice agreed calmly. "You have better things to do." The wind hissed and sang and then Sayri realized he wasn't falling anymore, but flying... flying on the back of a serpentine dragon with red wings. "Such as make a deal with me."

* * *

From her small couch, 'Kayla' stirred from uneasy sleep. "Again..." she whispered. "Not again..."

Her head pounded with the image of a white cat and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

**_A/N:_ **Small footnote for this so quick Japanese explanation.

Apartment- the word the Japanese use here is mansion, which to a lot of Westerners would be our apartments or condos and the like, not those shiny, big houses.

Also, aisatsu are Japanese greetings, like the ones when you meet someone for the first time or you enter and leave your house. If you do not perform these, you'll seem like a cold and dysfunctional member of society. Sayri's behavior is also unbecoming of an upstanding Japanese male, as you can tell by a lot of his rush to correct himself when around an adult.

Finally, Japan is relatively cool with homosexuality. However, in general, physical affection is meant to not be out in the open like that moment was. Yes, I'm serious. Holding hands, from what I recall, is a big step out there, and horribly blatant. Any Japanese people or more experienced people please correct me if this is wrong. Of course, this further illustrates how foreign (and teenager) Erin and Jade are.

There is no real word for teenager in Japanese either. Interesting thing I looked up.

I will edit if there is anything else. Please drop a review if you've made it this far!


	4. brave heart

_**A/N:**_Okay guys, here we go! Thank you to all readers and reviewers and to those of you this story is scaring, come on back. We have our regular characters beginning to make an appearance. Translations and such are below.

Also, this chapter is unbetaed.

If this needs to go up to M rating someone let me know.

Finally, Erin is a boy. There will be mention of this later. Nothing explicit. Just wait and see.

* * *

_**Episode Four: brave heart**_

He was riding a dragon.

He was riding a _goddamn_ dragon.

Wow, it was a lot cooler up here.

These were his first thoughts.

His second thoughts were that he hoped he didn't now decide to have a sudden fear of heights. Because that would be very, very bad. _Odaiba sure is small from up here..._

"Are you sure we have time to let your eyes wander like this?"

Sayri jolted back to reality, fear beginning to return with a vengeance. He was on the back of a monster. This was probably not a good thing.

Well, at least he wasn't being eaten. That was always a plus.

"Well?" The deep voice that had called out to him in its own way spoke up again, minute snarl of impatience to his tone. "Shall we make a deal? Or can I drop you? There are still a few humans alive I could try this with, you know."

Sayri looked down towards the dragon's head and frowned. "A deal with the devil?" The mask covering the face somehow made him ill. Then again, so did the fact that he wasn't dead.

The dragon snorted. "If you would like to perceive it as such. You give me power and I deny my every desire to melt you in my stomach acid. Who knows, I could even fulfill that desire in the abyss you call the human brain. Does that not sound appealing?" Sayri hesitated and gripped the hairs at the back of the dragon's neck as he rose. "If you doubt my power, let me prove it to you." He opened his jaws wide and released a great burst of flame that licked cement and the scaly flesh of the stegosaurus below. The dinosaur let out a roar of agony and lifted its small head to glare blue eyes up at the two of them.

Sayri flinched. "Okay, dude, your power was cool, but we've made him mad!"

"Will you accept my offer, then?"

"Oh, because there are plenty of _other _options open to me now," he muttered, giving a simple nod to the dragon. "What do you need from me?"

The dragon shrugged, a dismissive action that nearly sent his charge rolling off and to his demise. "Tell me where to shoot, hold the trinket, and let me take care of the rest."

Sayri nodded. He was not afraid now. Okay, that was a lie, he was scared relatively out his mind and his apartment was getting turned into a crumbled pile of legos (because of him?). However, his head was clear, and he had an objective. He had something he could aim at, and a way to fight it.

_Not kill it, though, right?_

From his perch above, he tried to see a spot to aim an attack at. That fire thing had been cool, and all, but it hadn't really done anything. _Not like Andrea had..._

Something white shot past his eyes and he saw Teri spinning in the air, swirling blue and white wrapping her hands like a cocoon as she jumped from falling building shard to falling shard. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and her face changed from what he saw as battle ready to... dismay? Anger? To misery of some sort? He couldn't tell and soon he couldn't ask because she was gone, pushing off a piece of a streetlight and somehow soaring over their heads.

She clapped her hands once and spread her arms, light dancing from her fingers to fall in a shower of lightning. The sky shined and Sayri stared. "Really are monstrous creatures, aren't they," the dragon offered, swiftly dodging a stray bolt.

Sayri scowled. "You're one to talk," he muttered.

"I would have thought you would appreciate my sense of humor," sighed the monster. "Pity. In any case, shall I?"

Sayri rapped his fist on the top of the helmet. "In case you've forgotten, you don't have handlebars! Let me off!" He looked for a part of the large building that had not fallen and pointed towards it. "Put me down there! I'll try to get more civilians out of there. And _don't _hit Teri-chan."

The dragon frowned. "She'd survive."

Sayri glared. "Just don't, okay? You said you wanted me to tell you where to shoot, well, I'm telling you where _not _to shoot, and that's at her! You got it?"

There was a single huff. "If that is what you desire." He flicked the human off to nearly bounce on the pavement… except it was a lot less graceful. He paused as the building wobbled, Stegomon having slammed himself into it again. Someone screamed. "Before I depart…" He shook his mane and something dropped out of it near the human's foot. "If you lose that, you will wish I could eat you." And he was gone, back into the sky.

Sayri picked himself off, looking up at the battlefield with dismay. He really was useless in this situation. _Mom… Dad… did you get the others out? Are _you _out? _

Then he heard someone let out a cry from the broken open door behind him and moved to action, the odd item he had been given dropped into one pocket.

At least, he could try to do this.

* * *

Meanwhile, Teri touched down on the dragon's back as it soared up again. It frowned and the deep mercuriality that had filled its voice moments before was gone. "You know, I have no qualms about devouring you."

"I would give you indigestion," she said simply, raising her small fists once more as he dove and climbed back up in the sky. Her stance didn't waver once, something he could respect.

"Your scent tells me that much." He heard the sickening _crunch _of blade against concrete and scowled. "Defensive-oriented my tail," he muttered. "There are _Kuwagamon _with less offensive habits than that."

Teri shrugged and knelt, preparing to spring forward. "Your reasons for being here are hardly savory in themselves are they?"

"And yours are of sunshine days and living babies?" Teri shrugged.

"Andy's reasons are her reasons. I don't ask." She looked around at her currently smoking, raw red hands. "An alliance of mistrust?"

"If you can hit it in the eye, I will consider it." He flapped his wings and rolled away from a suddenly spinning blade. More incoming, he attempted to move and a wing was clipped and began to bleed.

Teri shrugged, not reacting to his hiss of pain. "Don't ruin my aim and I will see what we can do." With one sparking hand, she wrapped her blistered fingers around a wooden cross. "_Anneau, Cloche Sainte._" The electricity around her fingers warped and danced, wrapping into sturdy silver gauntlets with a golden cross. The rest streaked up and around her body, wrapping pieces into armor. She raised her left hand, index and middle finger pointed out. Putting her right hand next to it, she drew her left back, and with it grew a golden arrow.

"Hold your fire a moment." He released a great burst of flame once more and then she released it, the light shooting through the smoke. "I asked you to hold."

Teri shrugged and lowered her hands to wrap the energy around her skin. "Did you think I would listen to an Airdramon's request?" she asked with nonchalance over the sound of the roaring voice. Then she rose and spun. "Here comes the temper tantrum."

If by 'temper tantrum', Teri meant a _wave of blades being thrown at them, _then she was quite correct. Airdramon flew to avoid them, but soon his tail was easily mangled. Teri flattened herself against his mask as some narrowly avoided the back of her head. She grimaced and pushed her body off by the hands, using her feet to push the blades into each other. They merely bounced off each other and she sighed.

"Don't tell me you're out of juice back there."

Asteria scoffed. "We are fighting an Armor from the air. Please do tell me you have a better idea than me continuing to poke it with a stick."

He growled simply. "Being useful would be appreciated."

"I'll work on it." She crouched to run then smiled, a little amused. "You and he are birds of a feather, hm?"

Airdramon merely ruffled his mane. "Jump," he ordered. "So you can stop sparking on me." She did, laughing, and the sound grated on his ears.

He so _hated _to be mocked.

"_It will have the power you need. Seek it out!"_

"Ridiculous," he muttered, coiling his tail and creating a bubble of air to throw. ""That thing will not give me my desire. Not even close!"

"_You just keep telling yourself that."_

With a snarl, he swung his wings down at the remaining blades, not seeing the odd girl's eyes thoughtfully resting upon his moves.

…

"Te-ri!"

She jolted as Ivy's body came in from nowhere (she did that a lot) and tackled her out of freefall. Shock waves of wind went sailing past her head at that instant, leaving her quite bemused.

"Geez," she heard Ivy mumble through her stringy hair as she pulled them both away. "He could have really hurt you, hitting you with something like that. Andy would have been so mad then, too. Oh!" She looked down at the smaller female and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm not Andy, but…"

"S'okay," Asteria muttered, shoulders sagging and gripping electricity-free hands tighter on the folds of Ivy's now-zipped jacket. "I'm still a weakling. Wouldn't wan' her to see me this way anyway…" _I can't stand at her side like this anyway…_

"I'm not gonna pretend I get it, but…" Ivy patted her head. "Strong or weak, she loves you. We all love you."

Asteria laughed. "You _always _say that."

"Cause it's _true!_" Ivy moved them to the least precarious structure she could find and landed them there. The Stegomon was now ignoring the building entirely, shooting blades and chasing after the flying serpent above. "This is such a pain in the ass," Ivy muttered. "Look at this guy! We might as well be using Jenga toys on cinderblocks!" She sighed. "Too bad Andrea's side is still scabbed over. She still has a bloody hour before that's over. And Erin's down there being _useful _instead of killing things like he ought to be…"

"Where's Jade," Asteria asked, looking around the area at the slowly approaching ants that were ambulances and police and the squirming crowds of people and their smells.

Ivy paused, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she sighed a bit. "Keeping our new friend from being hit by the ceiling without him noticing. Why?"

Teri fidgeted. "I… want to try something."

Ivy smirked. "Could we possibly get killed?"

"Yes."

She punched the air. "I'm all over it. What do you need from me?"

Teri smiled at the enthusiasm. "Divinity, luck, and…"

"Providence," Ivy finished. She fished a coin from her pocket. Or at least, it appeared as a coin. Knots and swirls were engraved and molded the metal and Ivy wrapped a roughly gloved hand over the circular knots. "_Cura, cura, provisio,_" she murmured and flipped it to swirl into the sky above. "_Sustinent domine me._" When the coin fell, its form briefly flashed into a staff for her fingers to grasp. "Welcome home, my friend," she whispered. "But today is not your day." The staff shimmered away, becoming a stave. As soon as her hand wrapped around it, her palm began to bleed. Ivy merely smiled. "You are still angry with me. Ah, well, it can't be helped." She raised it to the sky. "A witch has no fear of anger." She raised her arms and the stave. "Sit procella resúrgat!" The air began to thicken, heavy and clouded. She laughed. "Teri, Teri, I'll let them know. For now let's have a girl's night out!"

Teri nodded and the gloves extended golden claws, the shade of her hair streaks and the gleam of her eyes. "Let it rain," she whispered. "The holy rain, the rapture…" She jumped as the voices of people still in the building below her feet reached her ears. Terror, anger, horror at the visions before them, the scents exuded were acrid like fresh corpses covered in sweat. She twitched, almost as if to go to them.

"You can't." She gave Ivy a single glance, and the other girl shook her head. "There is too much to do. We can't."

Teri nodded. "Then they are on our heads."

Ivy shrugged, briefly crossing her arms over her chest in a parody of an "X". "Not losing sleep over it." Teri only rolled her eyes, agreeing, but not saying so, as she dove from her perch, light the color of snow falling from her body from top to skirt.

Ivy sighed, feeling the wind pick up beneath her fingers, feeling it wriggling at her call. "Andy must see something we can't again…"

"Must," agreed the newest voice in her brain, still anger and red tinted, but soft nonetheless.

She grinned and raised her arms once more. "Everybody to shelter," she roared, letting the sky sing her words. "The storm's a-comin'! It's a-huntin' your souls! Yaaah-hooo!" Her stave shrank to a baton and she twirled it, laughing and spinning through the air as the wind embraced her shifting form and fled from it. It went to Teri instead, holding her close as Ivy whooped and hollered again.

"I am the witch of the sky," she howled. "I curse this town in the name of my lord and savior! Amen, my children! Ahahaha!"

Ivy was not Andrea. She had none of Andrea's love of blood. She did have her love of battle. But they all had that. All of them loved the rush of a fight.

And this was a _fun _way to fight.

"Come on lettuce-breath and airhead!" she yipped to the two dragons. "Let's see you dance now!"

* * *

"Come on, this way, the ambulances are over here. I know, they were slow, it's okay…"

Sayri tried not to look up at the sound of a roar. He focused instead on pulling the wooden plank of what used to be a door out of the way. The final person inside, elderly woman crawled gingerly through the space and looked back for a second. "Everyone… everyone is out, yes, young man?"

Sayri nodded at her without really looking. Everyone was out… everyone that could be anyway. He grimaced before smiling back down at her. "Everything's okay now, ma'am," he said, managing to almost convince himself he was all right. "Now, let's go get you out of here with your family, all right?"

"That's for the best," the old woman agreed in a voice that seemed like it was shriveling away. As she made her last, halting shift out from the building, there was a loud wail. A child was screaming, sobbing.

"Don't leave me here!" he screamed. "I'm just stuck! Don't leave me!"

Sayri glanced at the old woman. "Can I leave you to make it there on your own, ma'am?"

"You certainly cannot leave that child there," she replied with a tart smile. "I am not so old as to need you to carry me across the street."

He bowed quickly. "Thank you very much! I will be going now!" He turned toward the small opening left in the wood and frowned. "I think I am way too small for this…"

"Mister?"

He smiled, even though it couldn't be seen. "It's all right, kiddo; I'm finding a way over there." He looked at the plank and struggled to yank it off. Something wobbled and the child squeaked out a sob. "Hey, hey, don't panic yet." Sayri winced, wondering if he was telling that to the kid or himself. "Nothing's falling over."

"Ain't nothin' gonna fall either." Erin appeared out of what seemed to be bloody nowhere and crouched at the gap. "This too small for you?"

Sayri snorted. "I'm kind of tall, in case that escaped you. I can't carry a kid through that."

Erin shrugged. "I'm kinda short, in case dat escaped ya." He raised a fist and leaped. Pulling it back, he slammed the flesh straight into a part of the brick. It shook and Sayri went to -too late- grab Erin's somehow unharmed arm. Instead, only a little of the brick pieces fell, a small pile of rubble forming that made the gap a bit bigger. "That'll work, righ'?"

Sayri stared for only a second before still having to duck his head under. "... I'm not even going to ask how the hell you did that."

Erin shrugged his small shoulders and for the first time, Sayri was vividly aware the teen's head barely reached the middle of his chest. "I'm a lucky little leprechaun," he murmured with a smirk, shoving Sayri in by his back. "Now move it so we can save the kid. Mighta just collapsed this part of the floor."

"Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me." Looking at Erin's expression, Sayri decided not to find out and just lead the way. "On my way over there, buddy," he said cheerily before dropping his eyes and focusing on the route he was taking. It was weird, hearing Erin shifting behind him like he was _meant _to be dogging his footsteps like that. "Uh… not to sound like an ass…" Erin coughed, smirking in the gloom. Sayri resolved to rile him up as much as possible when this was over. "But… why are you here?"

"Helping you," was Erin's answer, as simple as the price of milk.

"You _despise_ me."

"Strong words," Erin said, abruptly shoving Sayri away from a pile of very sharp-looking glass. "Kid got thrown pretty far," he muttered before continuing his words and marching Sayri like a dog on a leash. "Not gonna disagree with it, though. But Andy's curious about somethin'... and Jade likes you. He wanted me to protect ya. So…" There was an odd noise behind him, like Erin was shuffling his feet or something equally as disturbing like the guy being nervous. "I'm here, ya know."

Sayri was quiet for a few moments. Then, he swallowed. "He's… he's really important to you, isn't he?"

"Dey all are," Erin said without hesitation. He paused. "But… yeah. Him da most. If I lost him… or he lost me… I ain't sure what would go down… but seein' him all sad and stuff ain't righ' to me now."

He fell silent after that, and Sayri let him, feeling, not uncomfortable, persay, but… touched somehow, by Erin's simple admission. "...Thanks, boss."

"Whatever." Erin knelt in front of a pile of concrete. "Start diggin' the kid out. We don' get 'em to Jade, we doomed either way."

Sayri nodded and knelt, throwing rocks as quick as he could under the kid's sniffling. "You're doing fine buddy," he said without much thought to the comment. But the boy felt a bit quieter after hearing it, so he must have done at least _one _thing right today. "Is this my fault?" he asked, having been bouncing the question in his mind since this all began. "Did I call that guy here?"

"Well, your smell is a giant 'eat me' sign, we've been tellin' ya that." Sayri glowered as he threw another piece, this one almost passing over Erin's blue head. "Well, it _is _man, you asked. But…" Erin sighed. "Might mean sommat, might mean nuthin' at all in da grand scheme o' things. But… we can' take any chances, yeh see. I agree wit' Andy on that. If dere is sommat to you, like she's investigatin' righ' now, den we gotta have ya, so we can end dis rot, ya dig?"

"But does that mean-"

"Don' mean nuthin' about nuthin' righ' now," Erin replied shortly, revealing the kid's arms and chest. There was still a part of metal pinning the boy there by the side of his pants"There we go, da's a good lad. Mess of an arm there," he said with such a pleasant little tilt to his voice that it was actually freaking scary. "Yer gonna be cool, hey?" He glanced at Sayri as if to confirm this.

Sayri nodded. "Yeah boss." Erin raised an eyebrow as Sayri moved to wrap his arms around the kid's chest. "Think you can get the big, shiny metal thing there?"

Erin snorted. "Short, not weak. Get ready to scramble." Grabbing the small pole, he lifted the metal high over his head. Sayri backpedaled, yanking the kid out and proceeding to run as fast as his long legs could carry him. The rubble shuddered and trembled beneath his feet and Erin whistled sharply. "Ivy and Teri must be a-startin' da party."

"Less appreciating, more running!" Sayri snapped, wondering, again, how the guy was so damn _fast. _

Erin didn't obey. Instead, he grabbed Sayri by the arm, and threw all six feet of Sayri himself, plus whatever the kid was, onto his back.

"The hell are you doing?" Sayri couldn't help but cry, only to come face to face with the most manic of amber eyes he had ever seen.

"LIvin'."

And with a whoop of pure, delight-filled glee, Erin was running.

No, running was an understatement. Erin's footsteps couldn't land on the ground more than a heartbeat before he was in the next spot, and the next, and each step shuddered with the impact. The child squeaked in pain, but neither of them really made much of a complaint. It was hard to even think of any before they were outside, rolling into a piece of wall on the ground. Erin bounced easily to land on another part of wall, watching the building crumble further.

A bubble popped near his ear and Sayri blinked, uncurling himself from the sticky mess that was the child's arm. The boy had begun to cry. "It's okay, little buddy. You're out now and we'll be getting you to an ambulance, hey? Think you can hold out until then?" The little boy sniffled.

"It- It hurts…"

Sayri shifted awkwardly. He really felt for the little guy, but even with how skittish his brother Haru could be, he rarely cried about much of anything.

More bubbles popped and the little boy looked up. Sayri followed his eyes and relaxed. Never thought he would be so happy to see pink hair.

Sayri smiled at Jade. Erin's earlier words made him note the small creases in the other's young face and the merriment in that smile. "Ah, this is even better than the ambulance. This is Jade, kid. He knows how to help you out… right?" He gave the other boy a sheepish look.

Thankfully, Jade nodded and stepped forward, easily pulling the child into his arms. From his fingertips, his back, from simply the air, the heart-shaped water spun and shifted into spheres, soaring across the open space and around them toward the clashing dragons. As Jade pulled the boy away, Sayri looked up at the clashing wind against steel. "Damn," he muttered without much thought as Jade gave him a silent giggle. Sayri looked at the other people near the wreckage, but all of them were transfixed in the battle in the now cloudy sky. So he turned to look at Jade.

A light, a fainter shade of pink than the boy's hair, had begun falling in beads down from his body, rushing over the ruined and bloody pulp of one arm. Flesh slowly began to knit together. The boy's other hand found Sayri's and squeezed it. Smiling a bit, Sayri squeezed back. "You'll be all right. These guys… they're a bit weird… look a bit funnier than I do… but you can trust them."

As he spoke those words, the trinket in his pocket seemed to grow heavier. _Now, can I trust _him_?_

He wasn't sure he had the answer to that question.

* * *

Rain began to fall. It was not a slow, gradual descent, but a great downpour like the ocean had sneezed.

Erin grinned weakly. "Tha's our girl, righ' Jade?" Jade nodded absently, the pink light around his body becoming a ribbon to wrap around the healing arm. Finished there, he patted the child's head.

The boy looked at his healing arm and stared. "Doesn't hurt now," he declared, half in awe.

"Cause my Jade is awesome," Erin said and Sayri glowered at him.

"Boss, don't confuse the poor guy."

"Yer the most confusing thing here." Jade giggled again and the child only blinked. He still didn't know the poor lad's name.

Wind smacked rainwater into his hair and the bubbles Jade's hands were still releasing seemed to blur white in his vision for a moment before they flew away. "Teri's got a plan," Erin said by way of explanation. His eyes were closed like he was about to fall asleep. "Involves the bubbles and the storm and all manners of heck being raised. I didn't ask."

"Teri… did all of this?"

"Ivy made the storm."

Sayri swallowed. And she had seemed so normal compared to the others… if a little scatterbrained…

The boy squeezed his hand again. "I'm scared, Onii-chan…"

Sayri gulped a breath and tried to grin. "At this point, I don't really blame you, little dude," he muttered. "This is kinda… big and scary. But… I think it'll be okay. I don't think those scary things are looking to end up at this side anymore."

"Why?"

Sayri panicked mentally as the straightforward answer almost left his mouth. _Because I've made a deal._

"Cause we-" That was all he got out before Ivy had tackled him to the ground, all purple jacket and torn jeans and happy, brilliant green eyes. Weren't they blue before?

"Found you!" she chirped, looking pleased as punch that she had nearly given him a concussion in the process. "Erin, you could have told me where you were," she said, looking up from her happy "Did I do a good trick, master" look that was like a puppy. "It's hard to track you and direct Teri everywhere when she's like that and in the rain I can't smell a thing."

Erin shrugged. "Yer fault."

She flipped him the bird and pointed up at the sky for Sayri to see. "Your big scary dragon thingy wants you. Says you need the shiny thing. I'm supposed to bring you and the shiny thing. Okay?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Erin and Jade exchange glances of mutual… what? Shock? "M-My dragon?"

Ivy nodded, but even with that nod she had a look like the other two. "Yeah, your dragon wants the shiny thing. And you too, but mostly the shiny thing." The expression she wore would have to be categorized as mutual horror. No, not horror. It was frozen. _Like when mum talks about her brothers back home…._ Sayri thought. _Like when we've said a thing to her that we can't take back._

She tossed her hair from her face and wrapped her arms around Sayri's waist. "Come on, it's bad to be still that long in a fight." She kicked off from the ground and soon Sayri had to process he was up in the air, carried by a girl…

And a part of him was absolutely loving it.

* * *

"That was so cool!"

The little child looked at Jade with happy, pure-hearted sweetness. "Can you fly, mister?" Jade shook his head and pointed at the bubbles. "Oh…" For a moment, the boy paused. "Hey mister… did the bubbles take your voice away?"

Erin's head snapped up at the query and went very still. He watched Jade's face, who looked as appalled as Jade ever could. He watched the other reach out with his hands, but Erin grabbed one and shook his head no. "Yeah, kid… they took his voice." There were just some things that had no words to explain. "Kinda like the building getting taken away… but this is forever."

The boy nodded. "Do you miss it?"

Erin shrugged, watching the antics above his head that he couldn't see clearly. "Not really… he still talks,y'see. Just talks… different. I just need ta listen better."

The child smiled. "Yeah," he agreed. "You do. Like I need to listen to mommy and daddy more. Then my arm wouldn't have gotten hurt."

The boy continued his happy chatter to the two of them, who in the case of Jade, was smiling and nodding at the right places, while Erin gruffly smiled his own interest in the mindless words, of the grandpa's apartment the boy would stay in and the new books he would read and could he still go to school where he was?

Erin simply put the image of the broken family photo and the people buried in the rubble out of his mind.

This was a fact they had accepted a long time ago:

They couldn't save everyone.

But they could try and save someone.

* * *

"Could you slow down?"

"Not unless you want to get shredded, no." Sayri resisted the childish urge to mimic Airdramon's posh as hell accent and instead focused on hanging on for his life. "How in Server is that child doing that?" muttered the dragon. Sayri leaned over to look and was not even surprised.

He saw Teri, whose small form was shining in each flash of lightning, and offered. "She's not human."

"My nose already picked that up, _thank you._"

"Geez, chill pill." Yet after a moment, she was no longer in the air, headed toward the ground.

Airdramon said nothing in response to this, swerving to send a wave of wind toward the Stegomon. It was tiring, you know, after nonstop fighting. "Do you still have the trinket?"

"Why, need it for your jewelry box?" He knew it was a bad idea to rile up the murderous dragon, but at this point, the guy asked for it. He had already been snapped at seven times for tugging at his mane during dives. What was he supposed to hang onto, the guy's eyes?

Airdramon rolled his eyes, if that was what dragons could do. Beneath them, very suddenly, Stegomon had stopped moving. "It's preventing me from eating you," he said acridly. "Or worse, giving you to him."

"Duly noted." Thunder boomed over their heads and he still caught a snide comment from Airdramon. "This really isn't helping me like you!"

"Our relationship is mutually beneficial, not mutually affectionate." He dove. "Not that I enjoy up close and personal however, something is going on with our friend there." Sayri leaped down as Airdramon snaked to the ground. Stumbling only once, he completely fell over as he realized _why _ Stegomon had stopped moving.

All over his body were little gaps, like gunshot wounds, or bites from strong, yet small jaws. Blood oozed from each hole, vanishing into specks of light

A few bubbles popped.

The dinosaur _shrieked. _He howled a single word over and over until it clanged in Sayri's ears like a bell.

_Stop._

It wanted it to stop.

It wanted everything to stop.

And he wanted to feel pity for this creature, who, as everyone was saying, was just following his instincts. He wanted to stop fighting, feel sorry for this creature. He wanted to let it rest and heal and send it on its way after making it promise not to destroy his world anymore.

He wanted all of those things, but he couldn't feel them.

Instead… all he felt was anger.

"No," Sayri heard himself say in a voice that didn't feel like his own. He raised the trinket in his hands. "_You _stop."

And, through the pouring of the rain, through the hard scales, Airdramon released a large tornado of flame, washing Sayri, and the area they were standing in, with ashes.

It was that smell that made the boy tremble, and his legs give out. _What have I done?_

_You made him disappear._

"Beautiful," Airdramon sighed.

Sayri didn't see anything beautiful there.

Murder was just messy, and disgusting, and wet.

* * *

There's a fair few translations to be made here. I'm trying to avoid using them too much, but in due time, they will be important.

French:

"Anneau, Cloche Sainte."- Ring, Holy Bell

Latin:

"Cura, cura, provisio,"- Care, cure, provide (There are multiple translations for the word provide, or the word care, in Latin

"Sustinent domine me."- Sustain us, my Lord.

"Sit procella resúrgat," Let the storm rise.


	5. brave song

_**A/N:** _I am SO SORRY for the wait. I would have put this up yesterday but the site was down and acting finicky as you all know. Sorry about that! Next chapter, we take to the CANON more heavily... sort of. Enjoy!

This chapter is currently _unbetaed_ and Edhla is currently without a computer (her screen died) and out of the country. She'll be back in October but betaing is out of the question until new computer time. So yeah, I'll be going through and editing what I can catch, fixing what my reviewers see, and hopefully, getting more done.

The updates will have a little more sporadic updating time because I'm trying to figure some stuff out. I am sorry for that guys. College is a bit more important right now.

* * *

_**Episode 5: brave song**_

"Don't go out there."

They were watching the storm together.

They were watching the storm in the same room.

Kayla stood at the glass door, her reflected expression odd in the peaceful slackness resting on it. The opposition was holy and unwelcome. Among other things, it was filling the woman's heart with dread. The woman watched her from her seat on the couch, containing her apprehension with the tight grip of her hands on her tea mug. Her lined face betrayed little unless it twitched and even when she opened her mouth to speak, the child never looked towards her.

Absently, she tugged at her prematurely greying brown hair, trying to think of words her Kayla would respond to. Helpless, she looked at the photographs on her drawer set, at the glassy-eyed faces…

At the frozen smiles.

"Your Papa," she began, an idea rising to her head. "Would cry in heaven if you went into danger now. After all he had done to keep you safe…"

Kayla didn't answer, watching the rain fall without blinking. Her sharp nails sank into the glass of the sliding door, but went no further. Her bare feet must have been freezing, roughened though they might be, and her every maternal instinct longed to wrap her small body into a thick blanket and pull her towards the space heater.

Try as she might, however, she could not move any closer to Kayla.

She would think to and then an ache, heavy as all of gravity, would settle on her legs. It would hold her there until she stopped thinking about it, leaving a helplessness to settle in her bones. So she continued to sit and watch, occasionally sipping tea and blurting out words that she hoped would change the aura of the room to something bearable.

"I don't want to lose you again."

No matter the heartfelt statement, nothing seemed to register.

The silence frightened her. It was the silence which woke her from sleep and guided her to the girl's sleeping bedside. It wasn't the sickness or the white and purple hair or the scars or even that _tail_.

It was the bone dry silence of her footsteps, of her voice.

They always made her doubt.

_Don't be silly, _she would say to herself. _Of course it's her! Her father was a good man. My husband kept her safe. She's _different _now, but when you nearly die, of course you are!_

"It…" She gripped her tea mug tightly. "It was a hard time… back then and I just… you worried me-"

"Mama?"

Kayla's eyes were locked onto her, a full, rich indigo like the storm -and wasn't that _different?_-, head turned from the glass, and slowly, she moved away from the door. A smile had lifted her lips, but that was all. Her expression held that same blankness everywhere else, but it was peaceful. The woman thought of her grandfather, thought of the night when he had left her.

Come to think of it, that night had stormed as well. Kayla had been two, and fussy. She had left for a moment to put the girl down to rest again. When she had returned, he had left, as though walking out the house that was his body. He was gone, carrying the exact same smile Kayla wore now.

"Mama?" Kayla repeated, and the woman felt her ribs close around her lungs. Kayla's tail swished, glimmering with the ring at its end.

_Kayla did not have those…_

_But she's alive, so I don't care._

"It's okay," her little girl murmured, in a voice that was nothing like before. It was very calm, very much like she had accepted something that the woman could not see. "It's over now. I don't have to go anywhere."

She raised her little arms and the woman put down her tea. In the blind, sudden acceptance from Kayla, she felt her doubt fly away with the last of the rain.

Her daughter accepted her.

But was there ever any doubt that she wouldn't?

That it wasn't her?

Never. Never in the end.

* * *

For a few hours, Sayri's world was a blur of smoke and crying.

He knew that he was still conscious. Hands had led him from one place to another, people and sirens were wailing, and Dakota had clung to him and not let go, sniffling about dragons. He knew these things because he had seen them, but he would blink and see flames too, hear a dinosaur's scream in the back of his mind, and it would all waver.

_What a weak resolve you have for such a big dream._

Airdramon had said those words... and then he had disappeared somewhere. He didn't care where right now.

Someone had asked him a question and he nodded to it, not even knowing what the question was.

He had killed something using Airdramon. He had killed something that had begged for mercy.

And beneath his own revulsion… there was a kernel of satisfaction, a grey nugget that was trying to sprout. He had killed… but he had done right.

How did they do it? How was Andrea so calm after that fight? Ivy too... she must have known, they all had to... but to them, it had seemed normal, nothing exciting. That whole time the apartment had been shaking, Erin hadn't really been afraid. He had been _annoyed_ (when wasn't the guy really annoyed?) but never scared, never disturbed by all the death around him.

No, he had seemed resigned.

_Jade warned me, _he thought with a shiver. _They all tried to warn me… and now look._

His home was gone, some amount of people were dead, and… Teru.

Only this morning he had been flipping the guy over his head and watching him argue with his brother and father about what channel to watch on the television. Now… now he was missing.

For all he knew, Teru could be dead.

Sayri quietly tightened his grip on whatever he was holding until there was a squeak. He had been squeezing Dakota's arm. He made a small noise of apology and moved his hand to her hair. She didn't say anything to this. Other than that squeak, he had not heard her make a sound. She wanted to cry though, she was in that stiff way of sitting where he could easily tell. His sister was a sensitive little thing who valued their brother even as a source of stress and noise, even when he stole her toys and gave her eel.

She did not cry.

Her expression remained stiff and brave, as brave as she ever was. She was looking at their mother, who stood feet away from the three of them, like a sentinel. The woman's back was rigid and her head directed towards the entrance of the gymnasium they stood outside of. No healthy could be in there until the hospital transfers and dead were dealt with. At his side, his brother sniffled, shaking and rubbing his bare feet. They were red and pruned by the rain and his dark hair was plastered to his head.

Guilt made him flush red. Stupid. Stupid him. He was here, wrung-out, while their mother could only wait, and watch, and hope. Father wasn't here, so he should be doing something. But what? What had he ever been able to do?

Burden people. He was, as proven today, very good at that.

Damn it.

"I should get a blanket or two," he said, and the words were stumbling out of his mouth with the grace of rookie soldiers off the battlefield. "Haru's been shaking awful bad... and we're all in our pj's." Haru flashed him a grateful smile, lowering his hands from his arms. "There was a stack of 'em inside, right?" He moved to shift Dakota's hands from their place around his torso, but her grip tightened when their mother spoke.

"One missing boy is enough." Her voice was soft and unyielding, the firmness in it holding neither bite nor argument.

Sayri opened his mouth to argue with her. _You don't know I'll go missing!_

_She doesn't know you _won't _either._

He stopped himself and nodded. "Yes'm."

"Stay here and watch for your father. I'll get them. Speak up next time, Haru."

Haru squeaked out a meek assent and sneezed. He never would, Sayri knew that. His first brother had none of Teru's reckless sass or his own defensiveness. He was not like them and Sayri was fine with that. It was his job to protect Haru. If he couldn't fight monsters or be okay with killing things for himself, he could do it for Haru.

If Teru was gone, that meant double.

Sayri shuddered and Dakota looked at him, finally turning her big gaze from the departing form of their mother. Her drenched form looked five instead of nine and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was. "He's okay," Sayri murmured. "He's probably gettin' his head checked 'cause we all know _something_ is wrong with it, but he's okay." Haru sneezed a weak giggle and Dakota smiled a bit.

"What do you think…" Haru began softly and Sayri inclined his head for his brother to continue. "What do you think we will have to do now? Our home… our school supplies… any living necessities… there's no way Mum and Dad will be able to pay for it…"

Sayri sighed. "My program still has until April too…"

_Can you still be in home school if you're a murderer?_

That dinosaur was trying to kill everyone… eat them even. Didn't that make it justifiable?

No, no it didn't. It couldn't.

Mentally, Sayri groaned. He wasn't sure about things anymore. Not where he stood as a person, where his values were…

How could one semi-ordinary day get this screwed up?

* * *

'Kayla' sat on the sofa with her body swaddled in a blanket. The woman, her caretaker, overjoyed, was now sleeping, the deepest sleep she had had in months. Her fears were put to rest now.

That was good. The girl knew that.

That was important too. She knew that as well.

Watching the storm, she knew a great many things now.

She knew she had been once not this. There had been more than just her before she was the being she was now. The idea was muddled, _she _was muddled, and would always be so. But she remembered a state of being two before being one and she couldn't tell which was her and which was the other, or even if there was a line between them. There were things that were lost when she became this way. There were feelings she could no longer convey, and trying to do so was what made her suffer. Trying to force things in this state was what made her sick.

She could only be herself, and only do things that she understood as herself. But she still didn't know exactly who that was.

She knew she had died once, or maybe it was twice.

She knew she had lied then, and pretended to be all right, even though it was obvious that the two of them were not all right. There was something gained from doing that, she had believed, and something lost.

Neither of those things were her life.

"_Falling to the bottom suits the thing…"_

"_Even if my sword didn't pierce its heart, the two of them together…"_

"_The blood will call the dead ones to her." _

"_Then it's our victory, isn't it?"_

Out of habit, she tried to recall images of who had spoken. Then she stopped herself and shook her head. This wasn't what she needed right now. Not now, amidst hearing a screaming person and remembering a warmth welling up in her chest with liquid…

With blood.

Yes… she remembered now. She had died in pain.

Was that important?

_You don't want to remember the pain, and the answers are behind it._

If what her mind was saying was true, then she guessed it was very important. Was it her mind speaking, however, or was it something else? She wasn't going to lie to herself and pretend to have an answer to that question. She couldn't.

Lying to her caretaker was enough for one night.

'Kayla' smiled, a little shallow of an expression, and closed her eyes. Her ears twitched, pain raced down her spine, but she laid down anyway.

She had seen something else in the storm. Someone had been had staring at her. They were like her. Soon, she would have to meet them. When she had more of herself, she would meet them. She was not allowed to say so. The woman would have been scared.

Perhaps another night.

* * *

"Say-nii! Wake up!"

Dakota's whisper made his eyes open a slit. How the heck had he fallen asleep sitting up? His neck was going to be sore… "What is it?" he whispered back, sitting up a little straighter. They were in the gym now, having been ordered there by the paramedics to get away from any potential news crews and to avoid catching the flu along with anything else that had come up in this event. Haru snuffled in his sleep, curled on the wooden floor like it was a soft mattress.

His sister, who remained in his arms throughout like a small, purple-sweatered sloth, shivered. "Some men are talking to Mommy."

Sayri stilled. Dakota didn't use "Mommy" unless she was scared and that hadn't been since the age of five with the stuffed pig. He opened his eyes fully to see his mother still sitting feet away from her children, waiting for her husband to return. If there was any news on Teru, she hadn't told them. They didn't ask. Her face was still stone, showing her implacable place as the mother bear, the dangerous head of this family, sexism be damned.

However, seeing at least a small crowd of men speaking to her, _down_ to her, even in a fuzzy state like this, it made Sayri's neck hairs stand on end.

Bastards just couldn't let it go, could they?

Though the words were inaudible in the silence of the building, there was no doubt people were watching right now. Grieving wives, businessmen, fathers rocking their toddlers back to sleep, ordinary people caught in hard times.

In this case, Sayri knew them better as an audience.

Looking at the speaking man, it was almost comical, the way he was looking at her through those round glasses, like she was the disruption to their "peaceful" lives. Like she was the cause of everything that was happening. These people…

_Stop…_

They were the ones who should have been roasted.

_Shame on you, you always aim incorrectly._

"Say-nii, don't." Haru's eyes were slits, panic-filled slits, even through his drowsy state. "Mum can handle it. Don't…. please… don't."

_You'll mess it all up. _He knew that was what his brother was thinking, and to be honest, Sayri couldn't blame him for his thoughts. At least not now. When it came to rights, or beliefs, or generally being looked down upon at all, he knew he was…actively vocal. But he had his reasons… and they were good ones, at least in his own opinion. He was the oldest son, and if his dad wasn't around, that meant the other kids were _his_ responsibility, just like Mum's health. And she had to be tired by now, having been standing there who knew how long.

"Come now, Chatan-san, it does seem a little strange," he heard one say to his mother and he wrinkled his nose. He hated the way native Japanese said his mother's name. It sounded cutesy and demeaning. "Your family is well-off, relatively speaking, yet you won't let us speak to your husband.'

His mother did not hunch her shoulders, as he knew many a woman might have done. No, they straightened further, and she gestured in the direction their home had once been. "He is still gone… looking for my son."

"What about _our _sons?" a voice growled, and a third murmured their agreement, creating a whisper across the large room, which only increased to a buzz when his mother shrugged, hazel eyes clouded with apathy.

No, his mother did care, but not enough to abandon her place, not enough to abandon her duty and go out there.

"Are they not your responsibility?" she asked instead in return. "Are they not yours to keep safe first, instead of hounding an old woman like me?"

Haru coughed weakly and Sayri raised a hand to pat his back. His other hand tightened on Dakota's drying shirt. She kept silent, though he saw the look in her eyes. They were not going to like the rest of this, if Mother's fraying temper was anything to go by.

He did not want to deal with his little sister possibly biting one of them.

Haru shivered and shook as the first man spoke again. Sayri missed the words over the sound of his younger brother's hiccupping and slowly whining breaths of air. "Shh…" he murmured. "Come on buddy, deep breaths, if you don't relax you might hurt yourself… come on…" As he tried to coax Haru from a potential asthma attack, he thought of the little boy he had brought to Jade. He wondered if he was with his parents now… or with somebody. Maybe Jade and Erin were keeping an eye on him. Hah, that was funny.

Haru let out a soft wheeze and Sayri snapped to action. Haru wouldn't think of calming down until their mother was out of the fire… and his sister, left unchecked, would do something probably more dangerous than him expressing his opinion. "Dakota," he murmured. "Go get a nurse."

"Mommy," she said, looking at the fight as if it was the only thing that mattered. In the end, it probably was.

"I'll deal with that," Sayri assured, trying to smile and failing. "You need to help Haru and get a doctor. They won't have his prescription, but they have to have something. Now, come on, scat!" With a great reluctance, she obeyed, and hurried off into the crowd of bodies. Sayri squeezed his brother's wrist. "I'm gonna get Mum, okay?" She could handle him better, get the wheezing down so he wasn't flailing when they tried to help him.

That thought in mind, he marched over. "Hey Mum," he said, forcing his voice to remain quiet but level when he really just wanted to punch the whole lot of them. "Haru needs you."

"It seems like you were doing just fine," muttered a voice, which he ignored.

"These folks are scaring him an awful lot," Sayri continued, keeping his gaze focused on her, and her alone. "And he doesn't listen to me." _Come on Mom, please…_

Her hazel eyes flickered to his brown, and she gave a slow, patient nod, and a smile. "See my son here?" she said with a small chuckle. "My cub thinks he's a bear." With those words, she turned sharply and walked back to where Sayri had been sitting, wrapping herself in the blanket and beginning what was probably a soothing chant.

"That was rather rude of you, Sayri-kun," said the spokesperson when this was done.

Sayri shrugged. It was a belligerent gesture, done with the most absolute of assertion that he was right. There were so many things this crowd could be doing, so many people they could be helping. But… here they were, like they always were when things went wrong.

_Why do people hurt others?_

_Because of people like this, _he decided, looking back at them now. He didn't have to look up at them, as his mother did, and that may have bothered them more. He wasn't sure. "I'd be happy to continue my mother's conversation," he began. "However…" Sayri grit his teeth. "I must ask for an apology from you first."

"Sayri-kun," began a new voice, and this was one he was the owner of the convenience store down the road. "We weren't trying to make a scene, you understand."

_They were, _he thought with a mental scowl. Adults always said that, like kids were stupid or something.

He wasn't fooled. This was always how it went. Anytime something went badly, or was different, everyone always said:

"_It's all because she's here, isn't it? Her and her _brood_."_

"_What was_ that man _thinking? He probably had a nice high school sweetheart too…" _

"_Must be lying to him."_

So what if his mother wasn't Japanese? So what if his parents had a tutor at home for him? Why did that matter? Why did any of it matter?

_Cause it just _does.

He blinked at the odd sounding thought, one that didn't feel like his, as the men around him continued to speak. They thought he was listening. They thought he cared about their opinions. Hah. They were the same as Ginga. The world could go on without them.

"Sayri-kun." He looked at a woman, a woman who had just been crying. He didn't smile, but a part of him felt the guilt rise up as she continued. "Do you realize how this must look? Surely you are old enough to recognize this."

"Like we're rotten luck," he muttered bitterly, and saw the woman shake her head.

"Never, no!"

Even if she didn't believe that, the others did. He could see that, and something in him said so could she. "But… you must understand. For the most part you are here… and my husband is not… and my children were taken away from me… and yet you are well."

The truth of that statement hurt, and with that pain came the self-blame. "I… We didn't…" He was faltering, and faltering looked suspicious. It really wasn't them… it wasn't…

"They didn't do it."

Ivy, jacket unbuttoned and eyes once again their light blue, was sauntering over to them. Behind her, Dakota scurried over to Haru with the paramedic. Sayri gaped at her as she interrupted the conversation without the slightest hint of guilt. "Can't have been them," she added, looking utterly pleased with herself. "They'd all be here. As it is, two aren't and these guys would have a lot more than these drenched clothes, you know? You should be happy for them! Look, they are mostly well!" She clapped Sayri on the shoulder and said, in a very serious, earnest tone. "For the luck that so many are alive, you should be thanking God and helping the non-living pass over. There are people that need you right now."

Looking at Ivy, at her calm, sweet expression, something seemed to change in the crowd's demeanor. They whispered for a moment and Sayri felt his ears burn with shame. The way she said it, somehow… it even made him feel like a child.

"You all should take a breather," Ivy chirped. "Rest and pray. My family has always done that when they were high-strung."

There was a quiet murmur amongst the group, and then they left, leaving Sayri with his face flushed and Ivy smiling at him like a curious puppy. "I… I was handling it just fine," he murmured, embarrassed. Looking away, he saw Haru being carefully calmed by the medical official, which made his own chest ease. Just a little.

If Ivy noticed, she paid no heed. "They were going to punch you. Men always handle things wrong like that."

He gasped. "Are you insulting my intelligence?"

She grinned. "Not much to compliment about it, is there?" She looked away, towards the roof, where the striped sky and mountains and islands were clear in the night sky. "Do people do that sort of stuff to your mum and you _every day?_"

Hearing nothing but curiosity, he shrugged. "Depends really," he admitted. "I don't go out much and find out."

Ivy frowned. "Such silly people," she said, matter-of-fact. "There are better things they could be doing."

_Like what,_ he wanted to ask. Instead what came out of his mouth was, "How did you find me?"

"Your sister."

His shoulders drooped. He had hoped it had been his father. Then again, did she even know what he looked like?

Ivy glanced at him, clearly taking his gesture the wrong way. "I meant it," she said. "It's not your fault." She swept her left hand, which he now noticed was badly burned. "All this… us… it's not your responsibility. Yeah, your scent is strong… and Erin hates it… we all hate the smell, really… but we aren't chewing on your bone are we? Yeah, you made the snow, but Stegomon made the snowball, and we rolled it down the hill."

She poked him in the nose. "You aren't as big a deal as you think, Sayri."

The words, despite the randomness of them, were a comfort.

* * *

Winona watched her cub.

Sayri was still a cub, though he tried not to be.

She did not give him that nickname out of fondness, though it certainly came out in that manner. It was a reminder. He was reckless, stubborn, like a wolf left to hunt with no respect for its kills. He smelled very little and the eyes and ears he had were too busy being closed while he tripped over his too great paws.

Her son was not the bird he ought to be, and that angered a part of her, the part deeply rooted in the teachings passed from parent to child.

But he was her son. She loved him, and did so without shame.

She loved his honesty, and his pride. She loved his fervor to learn and his passionate joy about his family. She loved that this was her son.

Love wasn't enough to change him.

She stroked Haru's back as he breathed, stroked it and thought of the gentle words in that pink-haired boy's thumb as he had 'spoken' to her. [You are a good woman, like my da was a good man.] There was a brief hesitation before the child added. [But you did not do right by him.]

The boy had not wished to say such a thing, but for her cub's sake, he had tried anyway. Such a gentle child. Gentle and sad, like that girl Sayri was speaking too so candidly now. Did he see this? Did he see the oldness in her stance, the way she tilted herself so he was just out of sight of a glare or could not move to intercept it?

No, he did not.

Dakota's head slumped over onto her lap, and Winona smiled. She did not know how right or wrong she had truly done by her children, but she had to keep trying to do right by them, and by her wayward cub.

Even if there was nothing she could do.

* * *

**_A/N:_ **Okay, while there isn't anything I think needs translating, there are a few explanations.

First, we all know Sayri is being rude, just interjecting without so much as an 'excuse me' like that. However, despite the misogyny that is the world of Japan, ganging up on an elder like his mother (who isn't that old, but is in a relatively respectable age and position for a woman at that time, and also being a mother at all) is pretty much as rude and a sign of poor character on the adults' parts. if that wasn't clear.

Next, a little news. As I get further into this one, there are little stories that don't make it into the main one. Therefore, keep an eye out for _Within_, a collection of sidestories that take place before and during _Ours_. Most will be pretty silly, but some are serious too. Therefore, if you want a break from the collapsing insanity that is this fic, please hop over there!

Thanks and I will add more as I edit more! Have a good one everybody!


	6. Starting Point

_**A/N:** _Hi guys! Look, it's here! I made it. *collapses* This took way too long to edit than it needed to considering how short it is. Next update will be two weeks from now. Cacophony's completion date has been extended to Sunday, which is good because I spent all day on this. Enjoy and reviews should be looked and responded to. PLEASE review you guys. I really, really love your reviews.

WARNING: Any people who don't know the canon, this is going to be rather awkward for you. There are a couple of character references to the canon here... quite a few actually. For people familiar with the canon, hello.

Enjoy! Still unbetaed!

* * *

_**Episode Six: Starting Point**_

Sayri took a slow, deep breath. Ivy wasn't paying his musings any attention, or at least it looked that way, instead glancing at the humans around the room with very little in the way of actual focus. He wondered what she was actually thinking about. For someone who seemed to just blurt out whatever she thought and felt, her puzzling expression sure made him think of a steel trap. As did the quiet, now that his mother had succeeded in soothing his little brother.

"They just wanted to make me mad," he said, mostly to fill the silence. "To make Mom mad. They are like that, all jerks like that."

"No, they're scared," Ivy corrected absently. "They know it's not really your fault or hers." He wanted to look at her but she wasn't paying him any mind. "Everyone in this room is scared and sad, even your mother. But her face is strong, so they think she is brave. So they want her to be like them, all scared and hurt and emotional like they are. Nobody likes anyone who's different." Now she looked at him. "You don't."

"But it didn't-"

Ivy shrugged. "You humans always make up excuses to hurt people. We hurt people so they hurt and we don't. We kill things so they are killed and we aren't." She swung her legs back and forth. "It's not that complicated. You guys just like making it that way."

Sayri scratched his head. "I… don't really understand… but I caused Airdramon to kill that thing. Somehow."

"Yeah, you did," Ivy agreed, spinning a coin through her fingers.

"And you guys have killed a lot of those guys, right?"

"Mmhm."

The complete lack of concern was what disturbed him. From what he could see of her eyes, he saw all the interest of someone in the middle of a history exam with a finished paper. This was a topic Ivy had long since stopped caring about. "Doesn't it bother you?"

"We don't have much of a choice in doing it." She looked at him. "We're like that Digimon, can't help it. So we're okay with it, but you don't have to be okay with it. Humans are supposed to get all shaken up for a while. Andy and Erin figured you'd be all like this so they made sure I was here."

Sayri chuckled weakly. "Didn't know the boss was that smart."

She grinned. "Smarter than you."

He punched her lightly in the arm. "I am smart, okay? This is just a bad day…" He sighed. "I shouldn't have killed it,"he muttered, shaking his head. "He destroyed my home and I, I was so angry, but he begged me to stop, and I just, I couldn't…" He tried for the words and gave up, running his fingers through his wet hair.

Ivy clapped his shoulder with a roughness that didn't match her tiny, storm-wielding figure. "Hypocrite," she said, not unkindly. "Even I can smell it now…" The interest had returned to her voice, too quiet for her, much too soft.

"I…" He stuttered. "That, that is-"

"True?"

He shrugged, not sure what the right answer was.

"Sayri~," she hummed. "You are lying." He flushed, confused, upset, and only more bewildered when she continued. "Is okay though. You don't gotta make the decision now, but you will. We all know that. We don't understand it, but… we know it." She removed her hand and flipped the coin towards the ceiling. "When we became what we are, I don't think it went the right way. We lost the way to comprehend human stuff like hypocrisy and little indecisions and ignoring how you feel. Cause Digimon don't get it."

"But, but that makes no sense!" He blurted this out with what he realized later was a lack of decorum and common sense. "Teri said you were human once, all of you guys."

Ivy grinned. "She did? Blabbermouth."

"Oh, _you're _one to talk."

"How _dare_ you accuse me of that offensive behavior?" Her affronted face was ruined by the fact that her lips were twitching with mirth.

Sayri laughed. "It's kind of easy. I barely hear you shut up for ten minutes." She giggled and he was happy to realize his grin wasn't turning to a frown.

"Guess you've got a point there." She smiled lightly and paused, tilting her head awkwardly from side to side. He blinked at her and she shook her head. "I know it's here, I know it is…"

"Ivy?"

The girl turned and beamed, leaping through the air to bodily tackle the speaker. "Andy!" Andrea gave her a faint smile and a one-armed hug. "You're all healthy and not scaly anymore!"

Sayri stared. The once bleeding arm indeed was almost a pristine color of pale skin, unblemished and moving without a wince of pain. Her other hand was occupied by that of a small child, one Sayri smiled at.

"Hey, dude," he said to the little boy. "Did Jade fix up your arm?" The little boy nodded shyly, his free and unhurt hand wrapped around a large, round object. "What's that?"

The little boy hesitated until Andrea gave him a quiet smile. "It's the dinosaur," he said, looking pleased with himself. "Erin wants me to take care of it."

Sayri gaped openly until he had to cough from Ivy jabbing her elbow firmly into his midsection after her hug. "It's that… big thing there?" He pointed at the large object apparently held in a scarf.

The little boy whose name he had never learned gave him a look like he was silly. "It's an _egg, _Nii-san. And I have to keep it from becoming that big, scary dinosaur again. So no one else is sad because of him."

Sayri remained silent, horribly speechless as he raised his eyes to Andrea. The female smiled and shook her head. That was the most human thing he had seen her do all day. "Aren't you mad at the dinosaur?"

The little boy nodded, even as ivy's elbow hit Sayri in the side again. "Yeah… but he's an egg now. You made him an egg. So he's not the dinosaur anymore! I can help him not hurt people again!"

"I see…" Sayri swallowed, a sudden lump in his throat.

Andrea gave a soft cough and he looked at her, even as the little boy went over to be entranced by something Ivy was doing. "It is good to see you are whole, Sayri," she said, keeping her voice quiet. "I am very grateful."

He flinched. She had to know what he said about her, what he had felt before. She had to dislike him, especially now. If that was the case, then why was she so relieved? She raised a hand and a part of him cringed, even as she strode over to place a hand on his hair, remarkable considering their heights.

"Your smell continues to intrigue me," she mused.

"Do you just see me as a smell," he cracked in a feeble voice. She scared him, okay?

"I cannot see a smell, my friend," she replied without missing a beat. "I can see the effect knowing about it is having on you, however. Hypocrisy and justice, or perhaps transparency, they are tearing what you are and what you can be."

She stopped speaking with an abrupt pause and shook her head, stepping back from her close proximity to his face. "Ah… what am I saying?" A sheepish laugh left her lips. It was a rather pretty sound, deep and a little shy with embarrassment. "What I mean to say is that your scent worries me… because you are my friend."

Sayri felt his face turn red. He wanted to cry.

Instead, he straightened and bowed deeply, avoiding her eyes and the possibly kind expression she wore. "Please forgive me!"

He had been wrong.

He needed to own up to that.

…

He hated phone calls with his wife.

Rokudo Chatan _really _hated phone calls with his wife.

Winona was a good woman, the woman he loved.

But she was horrid on any kind of technological communication.

He glanced at his son's hospital bed. Teru's chest rose and fell, a bit too slowly for his own personal comfort, but it said he was alive and that was enough of an alibi to convince her with. "Sleeping," he said, which was true. "They stitched up most of his wounds." Also the truth. "He'll have a bit of a nasty scar on his forehead, but it might do him some good."

_That _part was where things got sketchy.

However, he heard his wife sigh in low-relief, exhaustion deeply rooted into the noise. "Good…" Beneath that sigh was an undercurrent of her thinking hard and he seized onto it, desperate to distract her from questioning any further, of listening to the sound of the heart monitor and how slow it was actually beeping.

"Winona." He tried to avoid asking her questions because when she was stressed she never handled them well. Questions became arguments, and it was hard to argue with a woman of stone.

And she wondered why Sayri was more stubborn than a bull.

"It was a strange day we've all had," she said at last, as the doctor reappeared in the room to check Teru's condition.

He wanted to laugh, but restrained himself. "I wouldn't call a stegosaurus destroying our apartment merely strange."

"As strange as the islands in the sky," she countered quietly and he found his eyes drawn to look out to the window before he could stop himself. "As strange as a man with bats kidnapping our children."

He grit his teeth and buried the minute piece of outrage in a sigh. "I misspoke, and you're exhausted," he began. "And the children are likely being no help."

"A few hours ago, there were corpses being carried past me, Roku." Her voice rose and fell, almost impossibly quiet. "We're all lucky, very lucky."

"They hurt you."

A dismissive snort. "The young people and their pride can hurt nothing but a young person and their pride. We are lucky, regardless."

He couldn't disagree with those words. Even with Teru's sketchy condition… and their lack of a home, they all were alive. Rokudo did not want to see many of his coworkers on the list tomorrow… or the neighbors he would have to corral into a story for the newscaster to read.

Then he frowned to himself. Something about work… someone there… didn't they have a connection to what was going on?

"Oh damn," he muttered to himself. "Winona, I have to let you go."

She made a puzzled noise but accepted these words. "Do as you will."

He intended to.

…

"Well, that idea didn't work, did it?"

Piemon looked at the on-screen images of the human world with the smallest of chuckles. "Sending an Adult reeling through the streets of a human city didn't have such a satisfying ending after all. How unlike you Mugendramon!" He meant to sound scolding, but ended up with amused instead.

The machine dragon merely grunted, gears whirring where the larynx would be. A new idea was already forming in his processing unit, emotions cast aside like litter in a park.

"Nyeh-heh!" giggled a voice at Piemon's left, coming from what looked, at first glance, like a little boy. "That was _boring,_" the child complained and when he moved his arm, there was the small squeak of wood on a screw. "You brought me from my game for _this_? Those guys just killed him, so easy, so dumb. Nyeeeh." He made the whining laugh again.

"Those _things_ that killed him are illogical," Mugendramon rumbled in his low. scraping tone. "Broken strands of binary."

Piemon put down his glass and raised a mocking eyebrow. "It's caught your interest?" he asked, mirth rippling through his voice. "_Yours?"_

"It has certainly caught mine," hissed a fourth speaker, who was curled at the edge of Piemon's circus tent. "The sea… my water shook from the force of that storm, of the powers within it. It knew that energy." The serpentine dragon shook its metal head. "The sea should not keep secrets from me, not such powerful secrets."

The puppet child snorted. "Can't be that strong if it took all of them to knock over a guy like that." HE spun his hammer to both gloved hands, ready to use it. "Wouldn't last a minute against me!"

Piemon chuckled. "My dear Pinochimon, though you are imaginative with a game board, your knowledge of tactics is rather naive."

"Eh~" he heard the puppet whine, disdainful. "What's that about?"

Mugendramon grunted his reply. "The bugs fought in a way that would preserve the precarious stance of that building." Piemon rewound the recording with a small smile and let the wooden child observe with glowering eyes.

In slow motion, the storm raged. It looked wild, but beneath the rapid winds and rain, there was a steady undercurrent of bubbles that popped whenever a gust came too close and too strong.

Pinochimon frowned. "Hey-" he began. "That Airdramon's being awfully rude and helping them!"

"Perhaps that creature has someone to lose," the serpent mused with a small smirk. "Perhaps cooperation with those mysterious ones was its last resort. In any case…" He glanced at Piemon. "This is an odd development. Perhaps we were not careful enough… isn't one still running loose?"

Pinochimon giggled. "There's no way he can get out of there! Guy can't even walk! Besides, I have the best player ever with me! He's all alone!" He giggled again, pleased with himself.

"So you've told us many a time."

The puppet glared up at the sea monster, raising his hammer to strike. However, Piemon paid them no attention past that. There was no love lost between a Wind Guardian of the Sky and a Deep Saver of the Sea, particularly these two, but they weren't simply going to kill each other in the middle of the meeting. Or at least if they were, there would already be a need to replace his tent. Or Mugendramon would have simply shot them both, as was his wont.

"Pardon me, am I interrupting?"

Piemon chuckled at the low voice at his ear. He felt the sensation of a bell clanging with the wail of a ship's airhorn in that voice and sipped at his drink. "Not at all," he replied. "I didn't expect to hear from your master for another year or more.

"Yes," the creature agreed, slithering elongated limbs and a misshapen body to slump upon the floor. "T'was meant to be a message of success that was presented to you, however today my master would like to make an inquiry of you."

"He is a priest," Piemon objected. "And I am a pierrot. Should I not be getting answers from him?"

He expected a laugh at least, but humor was a rare infection for that world in the end. "How did you take over this world, Piemon-sama?"

Piemon shrugged and Pinochimon jumped in, angry at not being included. "What, were you under a rock? We made the Eight into _zero_, of course! Stupid!"

"_How?_" it persisted.

The serpent narrowed its scarlet eyes at the creature, tempted to torch the possible bearer of bad news. "What are you implying?"

"I imply nothing, Great Dragon of the Net Ocean," it said in a patient monotone. "My master has a niggling suspicion in the back of his mind and I was sent to quell it. He suspects your methods were not quite as foolproof as they were thought to be."

MetalSeadramon snorted. "Five of the eight are in your pools, a sixth in your cave. The most versatile sleeps…" His teeth gnashed in pleasure. "Beneath my reefbeds, food for my troops. And the last will be shot by Pinochimon soon enough. And there is no backup in existence that can reach here alive."

"I won't shoot him!" Pinochimon shouted, though he went ignored.

The creature in the center of the room shook his head. "Are you certain you snuffed out the Light?"

…

"Roku, what. the. hell?"

Ishida Hiroaki rarely slept eight hours a night, even on a good week. As of recent days, he was lucky he slept at all, having taken more assignments than was probably healthy. Self-destructive, yes, but when your son had been missing for weeks with no way to file a police report, there wasn't much else to focus on.

_Yes, hello, I would like to file a report. My son went missing on the fourth of August… last seen with his brother and a monster in a blue and white pelt… certainly I can hold…_

The productivity of that phone call would be catastrophic.

All of this now noted, he did enjoy eight hours of uninterrupted dreaming as much as the next person. There was already a voicemail on his phone telling him he had a long day ahead tomorrow and to enjoy the quiet while he had the chance. Ruined apartment, dead citizens; it had been a messy evening. He didn't need his co-worker slash drinking buddy calling him during a hastily cooked bowl of yakisoba.

It didn't seem that Roku was calling for the pleasure of his company. "Does this have to do with your sons?"

"My sons? Roku, you sound like your neighbors." Hiroaki rumpled his already messy blonde hair. "Does _what _have to do with my sons? You know I haven't seen them for two weeks!

"Surely, you've heard _something_ from them?" Roku was not a man of calm and focus ordinarily, but he sounded now like he was looking to patch a leak with used Band-Aids and a how-to manual.

Hiroaki took a deep breath and counted to ten, exhaling a sigh away from the speaker. "They went in a rainbow of light, Roku," he finally said, as gently as he could. "I never got a message from them the first time they went there, so there's no way they could now." He'd had a long time to accept this and calm himself down over it. Otherwise, he'd have pulled out his hair by now.

"Are you sure?"

Okay, he had to correct himself. His colleague sounded _scared._When he sounded like this, Hiroaki ordered a policeman escort and a warning next to a trip home. Stigma or not, he wouldn't trust _himself _in a panic, let alone the guy who had tried punching out some kids for giving one of his kids an asthma attack. "What's this about Roku?"

Roku almost hissed through the phone. "This is about my apartment building getting wrecked by a giant dinosaur with giant metal spikes, Hiro! This is about my son Teru, lying here with his head cut open, with doctors talking about brain damage! This is about me lying to my wife so she doesn't march up here and leave our kids out there with our damn neighbors! This is about my son riding a dragon!"

"Roku-"

"Don't Roku me," the man snapped. "This isn't work right now. We all saw your kids and those others go up in the crazy sky and you can't possibly not know where they are right now! You let them go up there!"

"Oh yes, because we have cartographers all over the geography of upside down _islands_."

Roku made a noise of wordless rage and quieted and Hiroaki sighed. "I'm sorry, Roku."

"Get me a beer and I'll say sorry right back at you." They both laughed. "This isn't one of those dreams like the horrors our parents told us about, is it?"

"If only."

"Sure is a lot less corny than it sounded back then." Roku paused. "Hey, who the hell are you? Sorry, room's already occupied."

"We don't exactly go into empty rooms on a daily basis," he heard in a mumble.

"Get away from my son's bed!"

Hiroaki heard the phone hit something, a cushion perhaps. "Roku, what the hell is going on over there?" He grabbed his jacket and pulled on his shoes, heading out the door with a cigarette in his mouth and more than a few curse words on his lips. The guy was probably so wound up that this would end up as a great misunderstanding.

"Sir," the soft voice continued. "I would advise you to take a deep breath.-"

"Get away from my son's bed! You aren't a doctor-"

There was a sudden, heavy thump and Roku went silent.

"Roku! Rokudo! What just happened? Hey, answer me!" He fumbled with his keys.

"Oh shut that thing off," sighed the quiet voice.

"What's the magic word, snickered a third, dangerously close to the speaker.

The line went dead.

Hiroaki slammed his foot on the gas pedal. As he turned onto the now frantic streets, he thought of his sons.

_Yamato… Takeru… please be in better shape than I am…_

So much for eight hours.

…

The forest was beautiful and green. The forest floor was dappled with red, lush with the fullness of blood.

He had learned every nook and cranny, every time the Kiwimon called for meals and the Delumon made his rounds. He knew every tree that moved and even the trees that weren't trees at all. He knew the forest very well, almost better than his old apartment.

Takaishi Takeru hated this place.

He sat in one cranny of a dead tree route. It wasn't Jyarimon. He knew that guy's croak of a laugh, the sound that he used to pretend he was nice. He was the biggest liar of the forest. Even the ruler, the marionette made of lies, wasn't a good liar.

He was just the strongest one here.

Thankfully, he was also not here.

So that meant all Takeru had to do was wait. The little blond was experienced in waiting. When you were the smallest of the group, it seemed all you did was wait, after all. You weren't strong or anything.

It wasn't much longer now, though. Today, he would escape.

No matter what.

He just had to believe.

And hope Patamon was still alive.

His throat constricted at the thought. No, there was no was still here. He had to be. No one else should be dead… he would know. Pinochimon would tell him.

The puppet was too foolish and cruel to lie.

"Takeru!"

His spirits lifted.

He still had hope.


	7. crossing field

_**A/N:** _Hello! Update is up, still things are going unbetaed. I will probably have more updates to the chapter later but I pretty much typed it straight from the draft so it was pretty short this time! Please read and review! My canon lovers, welcome home!

Enjoy!

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_**Episode Seven: crossing field**_

"Now Jade, was that _really_ necessary?"

Jade glanced behind him and raised a delicate eyebrow in a way that was normally reserved for Erin's personal use. Then he turned back to the patient in the bed. Xavier let out a sigh, a deep, low sound like a train. It was a sound he could only make around Jade, because the other usually took it seriously. Usually. There was only so much authority a former street brat could stand after all.

The reflexes of those old days were likely what caused Jade's attack on Sayri's father. Rokuto Chatan had lunged for Xavier, and the normal peacekeeper tradition was easily shrugged off, like a bathrobe.

"I know," Xavier said to the gesture, less to the person. "That you all consider the opinions of humans flawed on many a person."

Jade shuffled his left foot, the movement speaking an old gesture of his father's that translated to [No shit, really?]

Of course, Jade was more polite about it, but just barely.

Xavier tended to enjoy Jade's company for these gestures alone.

Except when he proceeded to knock a grown man into a hard-backed chair with one tennis-shoed foot. That was problematic, but not habitual… at the moment.

"But I have a right to be concerned. Someone could have heard that… or you could have killed him. I can't exactly wipe either of those possibilities away, if you recall."

Jade made a strangled sound from the remnants of his vocal chords, a sound like a drowning was the only coherent sound he could make without assistance.

It was also his way of cursing someone out.

Xavier decided to sidestep over that issue because Jade bothering showed he was at least paying attention. So he scoffed right back. "You overestimate how strong we are."

Jade only popped a bubble in reply, making Xavier sigh again. Stubborn, devoted brat.

Satisfied, the other placed water-drenched fingers on Teru's head. The boy slept on, the heart monitor louder than his breathing. "Are you certain waking a dreamer from his sleep is wise?" Xavier asked after a moment.

The right foot shuffled. [Yes.]

"Is it necessary?" He forgot; these children operated on logic when it came to big decisions, logic and instinct.

Jade clicked his tongue once. Then again. Then a third time.

No translation necessary.

Xavier chuckled weakly. "You ruthless, selfish children will be the death of me."

Clever, paranoid Erin.

Jade only nodded. Whether it was because he agreed, or to simply emphasize his point, the man couldn't tell. He wasn't sure he wanted to know either.

…

"Hello there, have you been well in my master's care?"

Silence.

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't have much to say, considering where you've been." The voice seemed to sound sheepish, but it was failing mercilessly, smiling with a lipless mouth. "You ought to be congratulated, you know. You were the second one to stop screaming in all these years. I applaud you for accepting your destiny with dignity."

The occupant of the room twitched. "Destiny?"

"Why _yes_." There was a slippery slap on the ground, the rough rocks so used to such abuse they didn't even shift. "When one falls to despair, they eventually wind up here. They follow their destiny… and get a new one." The speaker giggled. Then, inevitably, they pray to my master. They have nothing left to lose, rather like you." The voice sighed, then gurgled again. "Or perhaps you do."

"I have… things to lose?"

"Certainly," it whistled like it was speaking through a straw. "Perhaps a comrade, or a family member." The whistle crooned. "Something you have to protect?"

The reply was not a parroted cry this time. The voice spoke with fear and rage, deeply drawn. "Where is he?"

There was a shrug. "My master has not informed me."

"Tell me!" The occupant lunged forward and slammed into a wall of air.

The other sighed and chuckled. "You are still so easy to rile, aren't you Ishida-kun? Just the thought of that little boy makes you cry and break. If you don't, you'll fail right? You'll fail, just like _he_ did! Is that not so?"

"Shut up!" The prisoner screamed. "Shut up! You take me to him! Give him back!"

"Why would I do that when not having him is infinitely more valuable?"

There was a howl and beyond the depths of the cave, a wolf howled in unison with his anger.

"Takeru," the prisoner whispered. "I have to… I have to protect Takeru…."

"Then _pray_, dear boy," whispered the creature. "Pray to the little light of hope." Ishida Yamato screamed, and the creature tutted. "So close to perfection," heit murmured. "So close to losing it all. I wonder… because I didn't see it… do humans _explode_ when they die too?" Did you see it? Did the _boy_ see it? I must ask him."

The creature vanished. "Think on that a while."

Yamato wept in silence, alone, afraid, and desperately wishing.

He did not pray, not yet. But he wanted to try.

_Don't die, Takeru..._

…

Takeru, from where he was was, was not able to hear his big brother, but he certainly was doing his best to follow through on those words.

He did not risk running through the trees, running was too loud. He didn't hesitate, but walked carefully.

"Hurry, Takeru!"

"Shh!"

On his blond head sat a strange mammal like flying guinea pig. Orange and cream in color, it occasionally flapped its little wings to brush branches aside. Again, Takeru hushed him, his Patamon, again. It was noise made out of both fear, and if he had to admit it, a bit of irritation. Patamon always made a lot of noise when things went badly, always. It had caused a lot of fights during their time here, and a lot of them hadn't been needed.

Takeru touched his right, scarred cheek and Patamon winced, drooping deeply enough for Takeru to nearly lose his balance. Instantly, Takeru shook his head. Stop listening to this place, he reminded himself. It will make you think thoughts you don't always have.

"We can do this Patamon," he said aloud. "After all, we've got _that_!" The secret weapon, their trump card that they hoped to not use.

Patamon nodded, grinning weakly. Then he let out a little squeak of alarm. "Takeru!"

The boy stopped and stood back, looking up at what at first glance was a tree. But he knew better now. No trees had canes in one hand. For that matter, trees didn't have hands most of the time.

"Practicing for a game with Pinochimon-sama?" The tree let out a creaking laugh. "You've gotten pretty far into the wilderness, haven't you? Close to another territory even!"

Takeru hesitated. "Are you gonna tell on me?" He clasped his hands together. "Please don't tell him I was out here, Jyureimon! I'm so, so _sick_ of him always winning!" He fixed his face into a pout, the worst one he could muster.

After everything went wrong (the time he never tried to think about), Takeru had been brought here, to play with Pinochimon. It was humiliating, and he had been alone for the second time since this journey had started. At first, he thought he would have died. Over time, though, he had grown used to it. He hadn't had much of a choice. He was the weak one, the little one. Being little didn't make him dumb. He knew the ropes now, the games. He knew there was only one friend he had here.

He had survived many of Pinochimon's little games his very real playtime activities.

It was literally child's play to pretend now.

"You know how he is, Jyureimon," Takeru added, looking forlorn. "If I don't practice, it will get boring! You know what happens when he gets bored."

Jyureimon chuckled. The tree's beady golden eyes were narrowed in deep thought, telling Takeru all he needed to know. The tree knew the boy was lying to him, Patamon wasn't exactly supposed to be around like this after all. The fact that his partner hadn't been flicked off like a dust bunny was enough proof that he was weighing his options. Jyureimon was clever. He was a lot older than most of the creatures here, maybe older than the master himself. He was the only one who could twist the dark master of the forest.

Whatever option the monster chose, Takeru only hoped it didn't lead to violence.

Patamon grimaced at the large tree, looking nervously at Takeru. Since that day, his partner had become a lot more reckless more sly. He was distant even, taking the scared little boy he knew his Takeru really was and hiding him behind.

If Patamon had to be honest with himself, it was like looking at a human PicoDevimon sometimes.

Not that Takeru was bad or anything, like he was going to not try to find his friends, wherever they were, and only look out for himself again like before. Takeru was always thinking and plotting now though, always twisting anything he could. He would _lie_, too, and like he was doing now, would do it well.

Patamon didn't like that, not at all.

He didn't want to lose his Takeru.

He wouldn't say this, nor would his partner really understand it, because Patamon was an obedient Digimon. However, he was starting to see humans and humans, more and more. They were always hiding behind themselves, rarely being what they were, even so that they themselves didn't know who they were. It gave them such a weird smell whenever they did that. Before, Takeru hadn't really smelled like that much, maybe with PicoDevimon, or when thinking about his brother when the other made him mad. The others had smelled that way a lot more often, he remembered that.

These days, it was a lot more often, a lot more _ripe. _He knew if he could smell that that Jyureimon certainly could, and he was a tree!

Jyureimon gave none of this away, of course, merely smirked. "His old branches rustled as he thought the question over. "Hyahahah… I suppose I can see the fortune in such a thing. " The words were followed with a lofty smile beneath a mustaches of dead leaves. "All of us do enjoy a looser noose."

Patamon winced, but Takeru did not. That wasn't fair! "So… can you not tell him which way I'm goin? I want to surprise him!"

Patamon feared he would be honest with Takeru because the consequences of that would be a bigger problem than him saying no. As in, he would have to kill the old tree, and that would ruin everything! However, Jyureimon made a creaking shrug. "I won't hold off a tantrum, dear lad, but I can misdirect it."

Takeru grinned, and his partner was for once pleased that it wasn't real. "I'm gonna win this time!" He hurried past the old wood, giggling like he was actually proud of himself.

"Takeru?" Patamon began timidly when they were out of sight.

"What?"

"He lied to you." Patamon knew he had to have been lying. They had never known the tree to tell the truth without something left out of it.

Takeru nodded, nearly knocking Patamon off of his perch. "I know," he said, and the mask of strength and clever big boy Takeru crumpled. "He'll call lots of Digimon to fight, and then…" His eyes watered and he rubbed them clear. "No, it's okay," he muttered. "We can handle it… I can handle it… just wait until Onii-chan sees us!"

The Digimon managed a timid smile. The smell was weaker now. His Takeru was becoming himself again. He looked at the trees. "If I could evolve… but my wings would get stuck for sure…"

"That's okay Patamon…" The boy smiled a bit more. "Just get off my head, so we can go a little faster, okay?" Reluctantly, the monster obeyed, though he really did prefer Takeru's head. The trees rumbled and the boy cringed, but he clenched his fists tighter around his backpack. "I can do this," he whispered.

"_We_ can do this," corrected his partner.

The boy did smile now, feeling a glimmer of hope in his chest. "Let's do it!"

They would escape this forsst, get somewhere where someone was safe. They would look for the others then. They would free them. Takeru didn't know exactly how it would work out, but it was better than nothing.

It was better than dying.

…

For a moment, Sayri kept his head bowed, not simply out of politeness, but out of honest fear. Andrea was dangerous, and the interest she had in him was almost completely unhealthy. But she had saved his life, and asked her family to risk their lives on a hunch about him.

Whatever his feelings were about killing, he owed her for that. And he wasn't going to deny that anymore. Still didn't make him any less unnerved for his head at this point in time though.

He froze when her voice reached his ears, mildly curious. "Why do you bow to me, Sayri?"

Confused, he straightened so he could see her. "I… I have been rather rude to you… all of today… and you saved my life and those people's lives, and all I've been doing is-"

"Is something humans do all the time," Andrea cut in. her expression was neutral, barring the glimmer in her red eyes. "Those people who harassed you, yes I know of them, committed the same act." He tried to restrain his cringe, but she saw it anyway. "You were- and are- frightened, my friend. You smell like fear and hypocrisy after all." She shrugged. "I can not fault you for your humanity, though Erin will try his hardest."

Sayri managed a smile. "Guess that the boss and I have that in common."

Ivy giggled. "He's just a prat. You're fun."

"Aye," Andrea agreed gently.. She smiled and ""You are forgiven Sayri. Always."

A flush rose on his cheeks. "Thanks…"

"The pleasure was all mine," she murmured. "Now… may I ask a favor of you?"

"Eh?"


	8. Daybreak

_**A/N:** _Hello! Update is up. My head hurts. I need to sleep. So please read and review and enjoy. I thank all of you readers and favers. Hi Koryanders! You get a shoutout for tackling all of my recent fics. I applaud you for that. Again, reviews are loved and I really am interested in what you guys think! Thanks!

* * *

_**Episode Eight: Daybreak**_

"Certainly."

"Really?"

Airdramon had settled in a nearby park, one that the Stegomon must have stomped over on his way to the apartments, due the various lampposts scattered everywhere and the permanent dents in the grass. Not that he seemed to care. He peered at Sayri with his large red eyes. Behind them was Ivy, both arms behind her back. Her expression was oddly sullen, a pout dragging her lips down. Andrea was hidden under the shadows of a tree, occupying the attention of the little boy. Why he was still with them was anybody's guess, but they both seemed to be focused on something else.

"Certainly," the dragon repeated, appearing amused. "It's a reasonable objective to think of and a pragmatic plan to ask for my assistance." He opened his mouth into a fanged smirk. "I assume it wasn't your idea."

Sayri scowled. "Don't need your commentary, skull-brow."

It almost seemed heroic to continually make comments at the big, scary dragon, show off his bravery and all that. But he knew better than that. He was too stupid to be a hero.

Airdramon seemed to agree with this sentiment. Sayri was half-sure that the dragon didn't even know his name. The dragon did not reply to him, and if he could help it, he would probably stay away from Sayri all together. If he didn't have the power he wanted...

_"What would _you _do for power?"_

The words slammed into his brain like they were shouted through a speaker on the wrong frequency. He found himself turned to Ivy, who just seemed to know what people were thinking. It wouldn't surprise him if she could transfer thoughts herself. Yet she only continued to stare at him, blue eyes dull with distaste.

Airdramon turned his head to her, as though expecting intimidation. "Is something the matter, doll?"

Something in Sayri's mind cringed and he opened his mouth to stop whatever was coming next. However, Ivy fired back without a pause for breath. "Ouroboros," she spat, shoulders hunching in a hostile way that reminded him of Erin. "You _smell_."

The venomous comment rather scared him, almost like it was filled with more than the anger of pixie-like Ivy, who never seemed capable of anything other than varying degrees of mischief. Sure, he didn't know Ivy too well after only one bad day, but his gut was telling him to run, and it was only that trinket in his pocket that was keeping him here.

Airdramon, on his part,seemed to not be disturbed. Sayri guessed it had to do with the fact that Ivy was little more than a toothpick in size to him. Though considering Andrea had easily ripped apart two dragons nearly his size with only an arm lost and quickly regained, that was probably stupid. _Guess I'm not the only one with an ego problem._

That thought was rather comforting.

Airdramon flicked his tail in Sayri's direction. "So does he, if I recall my irritatingly succulent smells."

Sell-out.

Ivy grinned, a nasty expression with sharp teeth. "Aye," she agreed with a flip of her hair, returning her arms slowly to her sides. "But it's a fresher plot of daisies than whatever mud you rolled in, air-head!"

"I_vin_ci," Andrea warned softly, pulling the boy with her to step between the pair. "This is unproductive." The girl scowled at her, but made a motion like she was zipping her mouth. The little boy giggled at her. "My apologies," Andrea continued, watching Airdramon. "Her penchant for honesty has given her too many words and not enough sensibilities."

Sayri twitched. "Did you just make a joke?"

A mirthless smile brushed her lips. "I am a little more than a mere warrior, my friend. Though, battle is more fun for me than banter." She fixed Airdramon with a patient look, one that came from experience with Ivy, or possibly Erin. "The idea for your assistance was mine. I am quite anxious about the well-being of that place." She looked up at the striped sky. "It must be in bad condition to look like that."

"Some may not see it as you do."

_Like who? _Sayri almost asked, but Andrea only shrugged. 'That is why I am asking you to look."

Airdramon's mane bristled. "Not that I do not see the benefits of such a request, but do you see me as your lackey already, little slayer?"

Airdramon's nicknames were weird, Sayri decided, even as Ivy giggled. She still didn't seem right. "Well, you are attached to Sayri, silly Ouroboros."

"_Yes,_" the dragon agreed, dragging the word like a thorn. "But that does not make me yours, now , does it?" His mouth opened and he prepared to lunge, but Sayri stepped in with his arms spread.

"All right, you darn pirate flag, off!" Sayri snapped, glaring. "She ain't doin' anything!"

"Mockery is a sin," Airdramon countered, lashing his tail.

"Your _breath _is a sin." Sayri was going to ignore how much like him the dragon sounded, yes he was.

"Dragon." Andrea clicked her tongue. "If you could rein in your bruised ego for a moment." Airdramon frowned, and Sayri frowned with him. Was it his imagination… or was that something Xavier would say? Granted, he had only met the guy once, but… it certainly didn't seem… well, whatever. "You traversed the dimensional planes and survived. The fact that you could do so… concerns me. Please investigate anything suspicious on that, for our sake as well as your own." She bowed deeply, the gesture something Sayri knew was only an attempt at cultural etiquette.

Airdramon hesitated, clearly uncertain. Sayri was happy it wasn't just him who Andrea put at odds. "As I said… I do not mind doing so. However," With reluctance, he turned a red eye on Sayri. "I gave him the trinket which allows me to go through safely. And if he loses that, I have no qualms about drowning him in my stomach acid."

Sayri still didn't know _why. _However, Andrea seemed to take it in stride. "Then take him along if that is the case. It will be a good experience." She smiled at Sayri now, as though she had not just offered him a possible death sentence. "What do you say, my friend? A little adventure to make your heart dance?"

Sayri wanted to say no. Okay, he honestly wanted to say _hell,no,_ but there was a knowing look on both girls' faces that made him stop and pause. Okay, he had to admit, flying had been fun. And being on the back of a dragon in a fight had been scary and cool.

He really did want to do it again.

Except there was that whole 'possibly falling to his death issue' to work out.

"Cub, what do you plan to do?"

There was a low hiss from the tree Andrea had been by, and the little boy near her frowned. Sayri watched his mother enter his field of vision. The hissing came again and Andrea coughed. It stopped and Asteria's golden eyes peered at the pair of them. Winona acknowledged this with a nod. She looked a little less tired than she had before, which meant the other two were sleeping in some corner of that building and that things were okay. That was good, but that stone glare lingered in her eyes.

Well. He was screwed.

Sayri shifted on his heels at the sight of her. "I haven't de-" He stopped at the sight of Ivy tilting her head and took a deep breath. "Are you going to stop me, mum?"

"I may consider the idea," she said wryly, looking at her gangly boy. "You want to rush into danger, even though we all are safe now. You wish to drive me to an early grave, cub?"

Sayri cringed. She knew him too well, even for his mother. She knew her boy's obsession with the opinions of others. He shrank a little, upset that she had used it, and guilty that she felt that she _had_ to.

"Teru is all right now," she continued in that soft voice that placated Dakota's toddler tantrums. "We need to focus on getting back on our feet."

"You won't have a chance for that, ma'am," Andrea murmured.

"It's going faster," Ivy agreed, the lilt in her voice sounding less mocking, and more serious. She didn't even sound like this when they had flown together in the air.

He almost flushed. Thinking back, that had been awkward.

His mother frowned at Andrea, even as Airdramon made a quiet noise. "Elaborate, if you please," she commanded, ignoring it. "Are you saying this is not over?"

"Aye ma'am," Andrea agreed. "It will never end until the skies are not merged as they are." She motioned to the broken patterns of stars. "And we _must_ figure out how to change it back."

The dark woman looked at her, scrutinizing the purple girl with shameless distrust. Sayri wished Andrea would cringe, look away, _something_ that would make his mother relax. She didn't waver, her expression unfettered as his mother asked. "Why?"

Andrea only shrugged again. "I am only here to stop it, not to question its making."

"Mum," Sayri began, trying to pull some of that hostility towards him. He went ignored. God she was stubborn.

"And my son?"

Andrea's lips curled into a smile of fangs. "An interesting puzzle to solve."

Shit.

…

Hiroaki pulled into the only hospital he knew that Rokudo would go to. The man was as paranoid as his grandfather sometimes, honestly. He hurried to the front desk after locking his car, making sure to throw his cigarette to the ground before entering. That would look bad on his reputation. "Hello, is there a Teru Chatan here?"

The secretary paused and nodded. "Yes, Room 114. What is your relation?"

"Friend of the family." Around him, beyond the smell of antiseptic, was the sound of footsteps and rolling carts. Doctors and nurses exchanged information in rushed whispers behind large, concrete doors, and Hiroaki grimaced.

"I see," the woman continued. "Name please?"

"Ishida Hiroaki." He really hated standard procedure sometimes.

"I see." The man typed quickly, looking through the information at an envious speed. "The patient, as of the last examination half-an-hour ago, stated that he remained unconscious."

"I'm here more for keeping the father sane, to be honest."

The secretary shrugged. "Better than nothing, sir. It's been a busy night, collapsed apartment complex foundation and all. The news is going to have a field day. Down the hall, two right turns, left side."

"Don't I know it. Thanks." Hiroaki turned away, idly pondering the calm that possessed that man to sit there as behind him, people fought for their lives. He supposed he could never be in the medical profession for a reason. Seeing his children born was enough.

Someone crashed into his arm, and spun to the side. "Woah!" Hiroaki reached to catch them, but a man caught the falling child by his arm and pulled him back to his feet.

"Honestly Jade," the man chided. "Don't get so lost in thought." He bowed his red head at Hiroaki. "My apologies, good sir. Dear boy gets distracted rather easily."

Jade stepped on the man's foot with no decorum whatsoever and Hiroaki smothered a chuckle, temporarily forgetting his worry about Roku and his infamous temper. The man's voice seemed familiar, but he shoved that idea aside. "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen."

"Indeed they do," the redhead said quietly."Now, I'm afraid we'll have to cut this acquaintance short. It's much too early to be awake. A good morning to you, Ishida Hiroaki."

They went the way Hiroaki had come from, leaving the man to stare. Jade only stopped to put a finger to his lips, winking at the man with a smile far too serene for a teenager.

Why did his head suddenly hurt?

…

Sayri saw his mother's expression shift. To be honest, it looked kind of demonic, not as demonic as dragon blood everywhere but pretty freaky. Her voice remained quite controlled, however, as she continued. "That is quite cruel of you to say to a mother, you must know."

"Lying to you would be a disservice to you, ma'am," Andrea stated with a dispassionate smile. "And to be cruel is a circumstance of mine I feel it would be a mistake to ignore. However, as I say this… I realize that there is more to him… and I would like to be able to see it. " She paused. "I apologize… I lack the articulation to put this kindly. Your son is a puzzle and a person. This world up there desires something from him… and I don't believe keeping him here will allow that something to be made clear. If he is to be tied to us any further, I would… rather…" She paused, and Sayri saw now, a twitching in her free hand. Though she smiled, the expression seemed less natural.

She was nervous. The almighty killing machine who probably could hand Erin's rear end to him twice with one hand, was actually nervous. He wanted to laugh, but that wouldn't be fair. but he did shoot her a smile, and his thumping heart slowed. She gave him a little wink, not conspiratory, but something almost human.

Well. They were a bit human, weren't they?

God. He was an asshole.

His mother's face didn't change immediately, but something in it softened. "Enough, child. That is enough." Andrea nodded, face turning a gentle pink with relief. His mother stepped back, scrutinizing Ivy and Andrea as though she had never seen them before. "You… you wear familiar faces, the pair of you. Slow-aged, but familiar."

Ivy's smile seemed to dip but Andrea spoke for him. "I'm afraid we do not recognize you by sight, ma'am. You and he wear a similar smell, but…"

"I'm certain the answers will become clear for the both of us." Winona turned back to her son. "So, Sayri… what do you want?"

"What… I want?" Haru wasn't here, so he really had no reason to _not_ squeak like a scared mouse at that stare.

"Yes, cub." Did she sound amused? "You tend to do things that you want, but that I do not. So… do you want to follow their requests? Or do you not?"

"Mum," he snapped in exasperation. "You were so defensive a minute ago!" Airdramon snorted.

"Aye," she agreed. "But defensiveness is a trait I taught you too much of, cub. I mean to rectify that." Those words diminished her somehow, made her less than the proud way she stood in front of him. A parent could be wrong. Odd. Yet… she still seemed as strong as she had been before. "You will be fully grown soon, Sayri, before your father and I are ready. I suppose I need to get used to it now, don't I?" Her smile was a little worn and weak, but it was his mother's smile, and that was a nice safety net.

Sayri flushed anyway. "Mum, this is peer pressure!"

"Peer pressure can be a positive experience, if done properly," she objected. "So choose, cub."

Sayri hemmed a moment. "What are you looking for, Andrea?"

"Anything Airdramon cites as abnormal." Andrea's lips quirked in amusement as the boy pawed at the egg in his arms. "Can you do it?"

Ivy gave him a thumbs up and Sayri nodded. "I can try," he promised.

At these words, Asteria dropped from her tree perch. Her hands were no longer burnt and while he flinched nervously at her, she only nodded, looking rather serene now that she was certain there were no threats here. She strolled up to Airdramon and planted herself on his helmeted head.

The dragon scoffed, a heavy breath that almost knocked the little boy over. "I don't like you."

"Feeling is perfectly mutual, ouroboros."

Ivy giggled.

Sayri swallowed and scrambled up the dragon's serpentine back, trying to avoid his mother's eyes. Settling himself so he could sit and not fall, he took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready. Now what?"

Airdramon snorted. "I do the rest, you great fool." He began to flap his wings, kicking up gusts of wind and grass. Asteria made her way to sit near Sayri as they began to rise.

"Be careful," she said, voice almost lost in the wind. "Nothing is as it seems."

"Is it ever?"

…

The forest smelled like gunpowder.

Takeru ducked his head to hide from the smell and tightened his grip on his partner's large white arm. Patamon had chosen to evolve when the first bullets flew, which forced them above the tops of the trees. But there had been enough shots fired by now. There was no way to avoid the smell of their captor's anger.

"How dare you!" wailed the voice of his captor. "We're supposed to be friends! How could you leave me? Weren't we having fun together?"

"You were trying to kill me!" Takeru shouted despite the fact that it was unlikely the other would hear.

"Of course I did!" Pinochimon giggled. "Good games need risks!"

"Crazy bastard," Angemon muttered. Takeru was sure he hadn't taught Patamon to say that. "I need a place to hide you," he murmured in the human's ear. "I lack the battle experience to multitask with someone like him." He also lacked the _strength_, but they both knew that. Takeru knew it so well his throat seized.

"Don't die,Angemon," the boy said, suddenly reminded of something, a something hidden in the grave voice of the Digimon. "Don't die on me. I should have said it earlier, but… don't die. Please don't." He was not going to cry, he was a strong boy, he would not cry no matter what."I forgot and I'm sorry but don't go away."

"I won't let you die, Takeru." It wasn't the right promise but that didn't matter. Angemon would die for Takeru without any hesitation whatsoever.

He already had, once.

Takeru sniffled,defying the fear and sadness that were threatening to swallow him at the same time. "Then you can't either. No matter what!"

Angemon managed a smile and spun his staff in his free hand. He managed to deflect one bullet, though it nearly melted his staff in the process. "Come on Takeru. We're going to need better than this. He keeps toying with us like this…"

Takeru smiled and Angemon did not fear that smile, as his other form would have. He was at a different place than Patamon, and though when he returned to that, he would not understand nearly as well as he did, he knew Takeru's changes were not all bad. Takeru would always be Takeru, strange scent or no strange scent.

The boy coughed and the angel only glanced down through his helmet. He could see a small light leaving his partner's body, and the boy was clutching at it. His face was rapidly and Angemon was starting to frown. Was this supposed to happen? "You need your hands free!" Takeru shouted. "Drop me!"

"Takeru-" But the boy squirmed free and dropped anyway, falling towards the trees. Angemon let out an unearthly scream of fear and he dove, dodging a nearby flurry of bullets. Takeru was smiling. He could feel it; he _knew _ what was coming next and it delighted him, even with the impeding sharp branches and dangerous fall. His partner's body was glowing now, surrounded by the golden light that was now rushing color back into his skin.

"Oh no you don't!" Pinochimon's shout was followed by a crack as more bullets flew through the air. Takeru panicked. What if they hit Angemon while he evolved? He couldn't do anything while he was falling!

"Woah, ho-lee crap kiddo." Long arms pulled him out of the air by his wrists and he found himself staring up at big brown eyes and a slightly manic grin. "Whoever told you skydiving without a parachute was cool, they were lying big-time."

Sayri looked away and up at the glowing light, which Asteria was apparently blocking from harm.. He looked back at the bewildered kid. "You all right?"

"He was falling towards his untimely demise," offered the rumbling voice of the dragon.

Sayri scowled. "Wasn't asking you, pirate flag. Have some damn manners."

"Coming from you, that doesn't mean very much."

He scowled again. "Just keep Teri from getting killed over there. I don't know about you, but pissing off the others because she doesn't come back is not something I want to do." He sighed at the kid. "Sorry, he's a jerk. Not that I'm a paragon of saintly virtues and all that either, but I'll try at keeping my mouth shut some more. So why were you falling from the sky anyway?"

The boy didn't answer, turning to shout at the light. "Angemon! Hurry up and evolve already!"

Sayri blinked. "Uh…"

Airdramon chuckled. "I didn't mention that to you, did I?"

"Hell no you didn't! Give me a proper FAQ the next time we go freaking dimension-hopping!" The light did fade, turning into an armored angel who carefully cradled Asteria and allowed her to land on his back. He took one look at the dragon and the humans on it, before nodding and shifting to a floating position with a purple sword extended from its right gauntlet. "Damn, that's cool."

The little boy sighed in relief and rubbed his scarred cheek. "We did it…" he whispered. "WE DID IT!" The glow on his chest faded but the smile on his face more than made up for it. The boy would dance if he could, but his shoulders sagged with exhaustion instead.

Airdramon dove away from stray bullets and flying branches. Sayri rushed to hold tight to the red mane before asking. "Did what?" _Now_. the boy seemed to see him, and Sayri grinned. "Sorry to burst in on your thoughts but mind filling me in?"

The blond frowned. "Are you… a Chosen Child?"

Sayri shrugged. "I have no clue what that is, little dude, but… Andrea might. I'm only here because she asked me to be. If we get to her, she'll probably know."

"Your faith in her is misplaced," Airdramon sniffed.

"Yeah, because trusting you kept my house intact."

"It certainly kept you and your _limbs_ intact."

The boy wasn't really listening at the moment, still watching the battle like there was something he knew and understood about it that wasn't right. He pointed to Teri, whose hands were sparking blue. "... Why is that girl fighting over there?"

Sayri shrugged. "Because she can?" According to Andrea and Ivy, that was the base answer.

"Because if I get hit, we all die," Airdramon corrected. "I am impressed that she's been able to block this many shots. We should have been hit by now."

Sayri groaned. "Okay, seriously, how much haven't you told me?"

"A lot, considering I didn't think we would get to this point so soon." Airdramon dove to a part of the forest that wasn't burning. "That is a Dark Master closing in up there. Very dangerous."

"What, is it like a tabletop game master?"

"He's a ruler of this world," the little boy said. He held a familiar trinket tight in one fist. "The Dark Masters… they killed my friend and took everyone away from me." He shuddered. "And I couldn't do _anything_."


End file.
